March 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice

(DOJ) is preparing to sue Apple ( AAPL ) as soon as Thursday for

allegedly violating antitrust laws by blocking rivals from

accessing hardware and software features of its iPhone,

Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

Taking action against Big Tech has been one of the few ideas

that Democrats and Republicans have agreed on. During the Trump

administration, which ended in 2021, the Justice Department and

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) opened probes into Google,

Facebook, Apple ( AAPL ) and Amazon.

A DOJ spokesperson and Apple ( AAPL ) did not immediately respond

to Reuters requests for comment.

It is not clear what the focus of the charges would be, but

makers of hardware devices, like smart-tracker maker Tile, have

long complained that Apple ( AAPL ) has restricted the ways in which they

can work with the iPhone's sensors while developing competing

products that have greater access.

Apple ( AAPL ) began selling AirTags - which can be attached to items

like car keys to help users find them when they are lost -

several years after Tile had been selling a similar product.

Similarly, Apple ( AAPL ) has restricted access to a chip in the

iPhone that allows for contactless payments. Credit cards can

only be added to the iPhone by using Apple's ( AAPL ) own Apple Pay

service.

Apple ( AAPL ) has long argued that it restricts access to some user

data and some of the iPhone's hardware by third-party developers

for privacy and security reasons.

The iPhone maker has also faced criticism over its iMessage

service, which only works on Apple ( AAPL ) devices. Critics have

complained that the company has disadvantaged messages sent to

and received from Android phones by shrinking pictures and

videos. Last year, Apple ( AAPL ) changed course said it will support a

new messaging technology called RCS, which has been promoted by

Google as a way to make messaging smoother across different

types of devices.

Late in February, Bloomberg News had reported that Apple ( AAPL )

representatives met with Justice Department officials in a bid

to persuade the agency not to file an antitrust suit against the

iPhone maker.

A new antitrust suit against Apple ( AAPL ) would be the third by the

Justice Department in the past 14 years, but it is the first

case accusing the iPhone maker of illegally maintaining its

dominant position, Bloomberg reported.

Apple ( AAPL ) is also in the midst of an antitrust-related

tussle with "Fortnite" videogame maker Epic Games.

Earlier in the day, Meta Platforms ( META ), Microsoft ( MSFT )

, Elon Musk's X and Match Group ( MTCH ) joined Epic

Games' protest that Apple ( AAPL ) has failed to honor a court-ordered

injunction governing payments in its lucrative App Store.

The technology giants behind some of the most popular apps

in the App Store said Apple ( AAPL ) was in "clear violation" of the

Sept. 2021 injunction by making it difficult to steer consumers

to cheaper means to pay for digital content.

The Justice Department has sued Alphabet's Google

twice - once under Republican Donald Trump regarding its search

business and a second time on advertising technology since

Democratic President Joe Biden took office. The FTC sued

Facebook during the Trump administration and Biden's FTC has

pressed forward with the lawsuit.

Shares of Apple ( AAPL ) were down 1.5% at $175.97 in extended

trading on Wednesday.