Rumbling began back in 2019 that the U.S. Justice Department was considering an antitrust case against Apple. Today we're learning that the U.S. Justice Department has in recent months escalated its long-running antitrust probe on Apple Inc.

A new report by The Wall Street Journal claims that the department has now assigned more litigators, while new requests for documents and consultations have been made with all the companies involved.

The probe will also look at whether Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, is anti-competitive, favoring its own products over those of outside developers, the report added. For more, read the full Reuters report and/or the original story over at The Wall Street Journal if you have a subscription.

Earlier today Patently Apple posted another antitrust related report titled "The Norwegian Banking Alliance led by Vipps wants the EU to Force Apple to Open its NFC Technology to them without restrictions."

Update, 12:36 p.m. PST: On yet another legal front, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent subpoenas to five tech companies on Wednesday, demanding communications between the companies and the executive branch of the U.S. government to “understand how and to what extent the Executive Branch coerced and colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor speech.”

The subpoenas, issued to the CEOs of Google-parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta  and Microsoft, come just months after Jordan initially requested the companies hand over such information voluntarily. Jordan gave the companies a deadline of March 23 to comply with the demands. “Your response without compulsory process has been woefully inadequate,” Jordan wrote in the letters. For more, read the full CNBC report.