People wait in line to buy new iPhone models at a telecom shop in Seoul on October 21, 2016 (Picture: Jung Yeon-Je/ AFP /Getty Images)

South Korean authorities have raided Apple’s offices in Seoul as it prepares to launch the iPhone X.

Metro.co.uk has learned that investigators visited Apple’s HQ earlier this week to ask questions about its business practices ahead of the launch of the smartphone tomorrow.

The raid is likely to raise questions about whether South Korean authorities are trying to hamper the success of the X, which has sold out across the world.

Apple products are wildly popular in South Korea, which is home to several giant tech firms including Samsung and LG.


The iPhone X sold out when it became available for pre-order and is likely to be snapped up when it goes on sale on Friday November 24, putting a huge dent in the sales of Apple’s competitors’ products.

Apple achieved a historic 33% market share when it launched the iPhone 6 in South Korea (Picture: Jung Yeon-Je/ AFP /Getty Images)

Apple and the Korean Fair Trade Commission have a long history together.



Last year, South Korea opened an investigation in a bid to discover whether Apple struck ‘unfair’ contracts with local phone networks.

It’s understood the latest raid is part of this ongoing probe, which was launched just months after the American firm took action to address officials’ concern about other ‘unfair’ contracts with South Korean firms commissioned to repair iPhones and other gadgets.

And in 2015, the year when Apple grabbed a historic 33% share of the South Korean smartphone market, the FTC launched a task force dedicated to exploring whether foreign firms were hurting the domestic smartphone market.

Roger Kay, president of the tech analysis firm Endpoint Technologies Associates, previously accused South Korea of having a ‘protectionist agenda’.

In an article for Forbes, he wrote: ‘The Korea Fair Trade Commission has pretty much run amok in recent years, slapping spurious charges on foreign companies.’

The iPhone X has proven to be massively popular, selling out across the world (Picture: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Erik Telford, president of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, also raised similar concerns.

‘South Korea’s anti-trust agency has exhibited alarming behaviour that threatens the viability of companies doing business in South Korea, including such major American corporations as Apple, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle and Qualcomm,’ he wrote in an article for The Hill.

Samsung recently launched a scheme in South Korea called ‘Upgrade To Galaxy’ offering up to 10,000 iPhone users a one-month trial of the Galaxy Note 8 or Galaxy S8.

Lee Jae-yong, acting chairman of Samsung, was jailed for five years for corruption in August 2017.

He was charged with bribery, perjury and other crimes following an investigation which led to the impeachment of South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye.

The 49-year-old was accused of making payments in exchange for political favours.

We have written to the Korea Fair Trade Commission for comment.