Elon Musk's X Corp and SpaceXAI moved on September 14, 2026, to dismiss their antitrust claims against Apple in a Texas federal court filing, ending the Apple track of a lawsuit that still targets OpenAI. According to Reuters, the companies filed to drop the Apple claims from the case they brought last year accusing Apple and OpenAI of conspiring to monopolize smartphone and generative AI chatbot markets. The filing did not explain why Apple was being released and did not say whether a settlement had been reached.
OpenAI, in a separate filing cited by Reuters, said it was not involved in any agreement and did not know the terms, and asked that the deal be made available because it could affect the remaining claims. The secrecy surrounding the dismissal has fueled speculation about a private resolution between Musk's companies and the iPhone maker.
The original complaint, filed in August 2025 in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, Texas, alleged that Apple's ChatGPT integration into Apple Intelligence and its App Store practices shut out rivals such as Grok, Musk's AI chatbot. A judge allowed the case to proceed after rejecting early dismissal bids in November 2025. X and SpaceXAI said they will keep pursuing claims against OpenAI.
The Apple dismissal closes one front of a broader Musk-versus-AI legal fight that has already included a separate OpenAI mission lawsuit that OpenAI defeated in May, when a federal jury found Musk had waited too long to sue. For readers following the corporate chessboard, SpaceXAI is the banner that absorbed xAI, Musk's AI startup, while the 2025 filing that started the Apple-OpenAI antitrust track was the opening salvo.
The public record still only shows a voluntary exit from Apple while the OpenAI co-defendant fight continues. Terms of any private resolution with Apple were not disclosed. Antitrust experts say voluntary dismissals of this kind often signal a settlement, a strategic refocusing of resources, or a recognition that the claims against one defendant were weaker than those against the other.
For Musk, the remaining OpenAI claims keep alive his years-long campaign against the company he co-founded. For Apple, the dismissal removes a legal distraction as it deepens its AI partnerships. The next phase of the case will test whether Musk's antitrust theories can survive against OpenAI alone. Neither X nor Apple has publicly explained the dismissal, and OpenAI has said it was not party to any agreement. Court filings in the remaining case are expected in the coming months as the OpenAI track moves toward discovery.