In a surprising move, Samsung is reportedly in talks to make Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT as its default engine on mobile devices. If this is true, when users search anything on their Samsung devices, they will be directed to Bing instead of the popular Google search engine, as reported by The New York Times.
Microsoft-owned Bing has gained traction recently for its capability to give conversational-style answers to queries submitted by users. Although Samsung is yet to make any official announcement regarding this move, it is possibly part of a larger partnership between the two tech giants. The two companies have collaborated in the past and this could potentially be another step in the same direction.
Google has often been deemed the best search engine for its accuracy and relevancy in results. The company is reported to pay billions of dollars in fees to phone manufacturers, including $20 billion to Apple annually, for its position as the default search engine for mobile devices. This move, whether true or not, also raises questions about Google’s domination in the search engine market. If more big companies shift their interests to other search engines, its market share could be affected by increased competition.
As news of Samsung’s talks on integrating Bing as its default search engine spread, Alphabet’s stock (Google’s parent company) fell more than 3.5%. The potential benefits of this move for Samsung and Microsoft have been highlighted, however, the users’ reaction to this change remains to be seen. It is still unclear if Bing will be the default engine on all Samsung devices or select models, and whether users will have the option to stick with Google or not.
Samsung is a leading South Korean tech company popular for its smartphones, home appliances, televisions, etc. It was founded in 1938 and from the late 1980s has been a major player in the electronics and telecommunications industry. Samsung is South Korea’s top conglomerate and is known for its quality products.
Satya Nadella, the current CEO of Microsoft, has previously lead the tech giant for 3 years, transforming the company and allowing it to become one of the most successful corporations of the decade. Nadella previously worked at Sun Microsystems and was later CTO of the Microsoft server division. Under his leadership, Microsoft successfully integrated ChatGPT into Bing and has seen it thrive since.
