Apple and Google could face restrictions on their dominance of Britain's smartphone market, writes Callum Muirhead.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into whether the US tech firms should loosen their control of the sector.

Google owns Android, the operating system software on most of the UK's smartphones, as well as the Google Play app store and Chrome web browser.

Apple uses its own iOS system to power its iPhones, which also contain its App Store and Safari web browser software.

They control almost every avenue through which smartphone users access the internet and how developers of apps market them to customers.

The CMA will look at whether the firms should be given "strategic market status", which would force Apple and Google to allow third parties greater access to their operating systems' software and app stores in order to provide a wider choice of products to consumers.

CMA head Sarah Cardell said: "[This] could also boost growth in the UK, with businesses able to offer new and innovative types of products and services on Apple's and Google's platforms."