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We already knew that Google pays Apple billions of dollars every year to remain a default search engine on Apple devices. We even presumed it’s over $10 billion. Well, according to a new report, Google actually pays $18 billion to Apple for the default search engine privilege.
Google seemingly pays $18 billion to Apple, annually, to remain the default search engine
Needless to say, this is a huge sum of money, and it’s basically a clear profit for Apple. As a reminder, Google is a default search option in Safari, so on Macs, iPhones, and iPads.
The New York Times shared the figure mentioned the figure in the first paragraph. Well, it is said that Google paid “around $18 billion”, and that was back in 2021. That number could be even higher at this point.
Considering that Google’s antitrust trial is ongoing, we’ve heard all sorts of different info regarding the sums. They range from $10 billion to $20 billion, but nobody mentioned over $20 billion thus far.
This benefits both companies, and it actually has a secondary purpose for Google. It basically prevents Apple from focusing on its own search engine, or buying one. As we found out during the trial, Apple did consider buying Bing at one point. Google did prevent it thanks to its agreement with Apple.
This agreement is also referred to as a “peace treaty”, and that seems accurate
As The Verge notes, this is also like a “peace treaty” of sorts, and that’s a great way to describe it. The two companies have found a deal that benefits both of them. Google doesn’t have a closer competitor in search, and Apple gets to pocket a ton of money each year.
Some people even think Google would think twice about keeping all of its services on iOS if the deal changes. Those are just rumors, of course, it benefits Google greatly to have its apps on iOS, of course.