Google is making moves to reduce its reliance on Apple for search revenue, as iPhone users constitute a significant portion of Google’s search revenue. Despite being the dominant search engine, Google pays Apple billions of dollars annually to be the default search engine on iPhones.
The US Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging a monopoly in search and advertising. To avoid further scrutiny, Google has been working on shifting searches away from Safari on iPhones to its own apps like Chrome and the Google app.
While Google has seen some success in increasing the use of its apps for searches on iPhones, growth has stalled recently. The company aims to have 50% of searches on iPhones conducted through its apps by 2030 but faces challenges due to Safari being the default search option.
In 2022, Google paid Apple $20 billion to remain the default search engine on iPhones, accounting for a significant portion of its search ad revenue. If the lawsuit results in Google ending its partnership with Apple, the search engine giant could lose billions in revenue.
Apple, on the other hand, has partnered with companies like OpenAI and ChatGPT for integration with Apple Intelligence, showing a willingness to work with other partners. There is a possibility of Google losing its default search engine status on iPhones, opening the door for other search engines like Gemini to be integrated, potentially pushing users away from Safari to other search apps.
