Court documents revealed that Google paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 to be the default Safari engine on the latter's devices.
Numerous reports have surfaced over the past few years estimating the amount that Google forked out to be the default search engine on Apple devices. Happily, the official amount was finally revealed in court documents.
New court documents indicate that Google paid Apple a whopping $20 billion in 2022 to be the default search engine on Safari. To give this number some context and perspective, it's the equivalent of between 14% to 16% of Apple's annual operating profits.
Since 2002, Google has been the default search engine on Safari for Apple devices. It is believed that both companies renegotiated the deal many times over the years, and tried to keep the terms confidential. However, the ongoing antitrust dispute with the US Department of Justice has let the cat out of the bag.
While the Digital Markets Act has forced Apple to give users new choices for default browsers and search engines in Europe, Google remains the default search engine on Apple devices in many countries.
iOS 14, which was rolled out in 2020, gave iOS users the option to set their preferred email and browser apps as default. The option can be accessed via Settings > Safari > Search Engine.
A ruling is not expected until the latter half of this year. In the meantime, Apple is reportedly laying the groundwork for a next-generation search engine that could replace Google Search.
Source: Bloomberg via MacRumors
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