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The move comes only minutes after new US tariffs on Chinese goods went into force, and a day after China announced actions against US companies like Google, manufacturers of agricultural equipment, and the owner of the fashion brand Calvin Klein.
According to the article, Apple's practices, such as its commission of up to 30 percent on in-app purchases and limitations on external payment systems and App Stores, are being examined by the nation's State Administration for Market Regulation.
Apple's stock fell 2.6% during premarket trade in the US.
According to the article, since last year, Chinese regulators have been in contact with Apple executives and app developers.
A request for comment from Reuters was not immediately answered by Apple or China's antitrust authority.
Google was suspected of breaking the nation's anti-monopoly statute, the regulator said on Tuesday. It gave no other information about the investigation or the suspected legal violations committed by Google.
In an article published in the state-run People's Daily newspaper on Tuesday, Zhang Chenying, a professor at Tsinghua University, said that the investigation might have something to do with Google's Android operating system division.
Without mentioning the source of the information, she said that Google had utilised its market dominance to place technological and commercial limitations on Chinese mobile phone manufacturers.
Separately, China's Commerce Ministry announced that it has added US biotechnology company Illumina and PVH Corp, the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, to its list of "unreliable entities."
