Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. were hit with UK antitrust investigations over concerns their dominance in mobile services is distorting the market and putting up barriers to entry for competitors.

Britain launched an investigation into Apple and Google's smartphone operating systems, app stores and browsers on Thursday, its second use of recently bulked up regulatory powers to scrutinise big tech companies.

Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS are facing fresh scrutiny from Britain’s competition watchdog, which unveiled investigations targeting the two tech giants’ mobile phone ecosystems under new powers to crack down on digital market abuses.