[r00fus]

Is it a monopoly if all other options are ad-infested and privacy lacking?

If Apple is considered to have a monopoly on privacy-first devices and ecosystem, then let's first judge the system that allows the other (clearly undesirable) options to even exist.

Monopoly as a definitive term has criteria, and Apple doesn't meet those. By your same argument, any luxury brand "prices like a monopolist" and should be shunned.

[otterley]

I don't contend that Apple is a monopolist. We're discussing a hypothetical that assumes that they are, and whether it would be tolerated by law and society in today's climate as opposed to how monopolies were treated in previous generations.

[r00fus]

So you're comparing a hypothetical assertion to previous actual monopolies?

Sounds unproductive other than to lend credence to the (false) assertion.