With the Google Antitrust Ruling, Will Apple Build a Search Engine?

Earlier this week, a federal court ruled that Google's lucrative default search engine deal with Apple violates antitrust law. Google plans to appeal the decision and the court hasn't provided insight into how it plans to address Google's monopoly, but there is a chance Google will no longer be able to pay to be the default search engine on Apple devices.

apple search engine settings safari

Google's Payments to Apple

For many years, Google has paid Apple billions to be the primary search engine on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. When you use the Safari browser, Google Search is the default option, and that's because Google pays for the privilege. You can pop into the Settings app and swap to a different search engine like Bing or DuckDuckGo, but most people don't bother with that.

It's a deal that's lucrative for both Apple and Google. In 2022, for example, Google paid Apple $20 billion, which is around 36 percent of the total revenue that it earns from Safari searches. So Apple gets a big payout each year, and Google gets major reach from Apple's huge install base.

In its antitrust ruling, the court suggested that Apple has the "financial, technological, and human resources" to develop its own search engine, but has not done so because of the money that it receives from Google. The court acknowledges that Apple would have to take on other risks like risking brand reputation for an inferior product, but states that the revenue share payments "unquestionably" keep Apple "on the sidelines of search."

Apple Search Engine Rumors

So if Apple's deal with Google goes away, will Apple enter the search market?

Past rumors indicate that Apple has worked on a search engine. In November 2022, The Information said that Apple had been working on a web search engine since 2022, but Apple was still at least four years away from launching such a product. That report suggested Apple could use its own search product work as leverage during renegotiations with Google.

Apple has a dedicated search team because there are robust search tools for Spotlight, Siri Suggestions, and content provided by ‌Siri‌ to answer user queries. It's possible that Apple could spin some of its Spotlight technology into a web search feature in the future, or that it could leverage Apple Intelligence. With AI and the changes coming to ‌Siri‌ in 2024 and 2025, ‌iPhone‌, ‌iPad‌, and Mac users may start to transition away from traditional web searches anyway, relying more on other search tools.

Apple definitely has the money to enter into the search engine market, and the background is there too with Safari, but there are alternatives.

Other Search Engines

During the antitrust case, documents revealed that Microsoft tried for years to get Apple to switch over to Bing as the default search engine on Safari. Microsoft even pushed for a sale of Bing to Apple, but Apple did not think that Bing could compete with Google in "quality and capabilities."

Microsoft even offered to share 100 percent of Bing's revenue with Apple, but it was a no go. Apple's services chief Eddy Cue testified that there "wasn't a valid alternative" to Google, and that Apple has stuck with Google because "we've always thought it was the best." Trial documents further revealed that Cue believed that there was "no price that Microsoft could ever offer [Apple] to make the switch," with Cue blaming Bing's "inferior quality" and the "business risk of making a change."

Apple executives also discussed DuckDuckGo, specifically as the default for private browsing mode, but said it is "not a great search engine" and "not good enough."

Possible Search Solutions

Google could be told that it is not allowed to pay to be the default search engine on Safari, removing Apple's financial incentive to prioritize Google's search engine.

In Europe, the Digital Markets Act requires Apple to allow ‌iPhone‌ users to select a browser as their default during the device setup process, providing alternatives to Safari. The U.S. court could require a similar setup process for search engines, allowing users to choose a search engine from a list when activating a device for the first time.

In this situation, rather than Apple automatically setting Google Search as the default search engine, users would make the selection themselves at device setup. There would be no need for the extra step of opening the Settings app and finding the Safari options to swap search engines.

The lawsuit targets Google, so it's unlikely that the court would force Apple to provide search engine choice in this situation, but Apple might be willing to offer that option if it doesn't have a financial reason not to do so.

Appeals

Google is going to appeal the court's decision, so the deal between Apple and Google isn't in immediate danger because the rest of the lawsuit needs to play out.

Wrap Up

If the United States Justice Department and courts are correct that Apple's deal with Google is holding Apple back from developing its own search engine, putting a stop to payments could spur Apple to develop a search product.

It's clear that Apple is unlikely to establish a partnership with another company like Bing or even purchase a search engine because it sees all of the non-Google options as not good enough. Based on what we know right now, Apple's best move without Google revenue could be to get into search on its own.

Apple's projections (per the lawsuit) estimate that it could lose more than $12 billion in revenue during the first five years after a separation from Google, plus it would cost billions to build and maintain a search engine. Apple would need to create an ad platform and work to monetize searches, and Apple would need to make sure that it developed a search engine able to rival what Google can do.

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Latest iPhone 17 Series CAD Images in Line With Redesign Rumors

Friday February 28, 2025 2:51 am PST by
Apple is expected to embrace a new camera system design for some models in its upcoming iPhone 17 series, and the latest purported CAD images don't deviate from what we have been hearing lately about Apple's new lineup. If you do not like the sound of an iPhone with a Google Pixel-style camera bar, look away now. Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson shared the following images in a post on X...
iphone 16e usb c feature

Apple Provides Reason for iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe

Friday February 28, 2025 4:39 am PST by
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone. According to Apple representatives who spoke to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging...
apple intelligence black

These New Apple Intelligence Features Are Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday February 28, 2025 3:17 pm PST by
iOS 18.4 was supposed to bring new Apple Intelligence Siri features, but Apple ended up needing to pull those capabilities from the update to continue testing. There are fewer new Apple Intelligence additions now, but there are still some new features that will make the update worth installing when it comes out in April. Priority Notifications Apple introduced Priority Notifications back at ...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Rumored to Include These New Features for Your iPhone

Saturday March 1, 2025 11:00 am PST by
iOS 19 is still around three months away from being unveiled, but there are plenty of rumors about the upcoming update. Below, we recap iOS 19 rumors so far. Redesigned Camera App A leak earlier this year allegedly revealed a redesigned Camera app coming with iOS 19. On his YouTube channel Front Page Tech in January, Jon Prosser shared a video showing what the new Camera app will...
cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
apple c1

How Fast is Apple's First-Ever 5G Modem? The Results Are Surprising

Friday February 28, 2025 10:08 am PST by
iPhone 16e reviews are now out, and Apple's custom-designed C1 modem has been put to the test. The results so far are quite surprising, as the C1's speeds are not as slow compared to Qualcomm modems as originally expected. While the C1 does not support ultra-fast mmWave 5G in the U.S., it appears to offer comparable 5G performance to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X71 modem found in the iPhone 16,...

Top Rated Comments

SanderEvers Avatar
8 months ago
Apple making a search engine, the EU is going to love that.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rafagon Avatar
8 months ago
Apple could fix this by asking the user what they want their default search engine to be when they first use their browser, and maybe once after each major iOS update after that.


I for one am happy with Google.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bender7 Avatar
8 months ago
and once Apple uses their own search engine in safari, they will be sued once again for monopoly. stupid ruling
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nt5672 Avatar
8 months ago
Apple cannot even get spellchecking and suggestion working right. It can't get Siri working right.

There is no way Apple has the skills or the vision to do a high quality search engine.

If they do make a search engine, it will just be a mediocre subscription based nightmare.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Amazing Iceman Avatar
8 months ago
This is ridiculous! Someone has to be default. Businesses pay a lot of money to be featured in the front-page of the newspaper.
Wouldn't that be considered as an antitrust move? No.

If you want your search engine to be the default, you gotta pay. if you don't pay, wait in line behind the one who paid. What's wrong with that? Business is business. And it's not that Apple is not allowing any other search engines to be available. What I do every time I setup a new device is change the search engine to DuckDuckGo.
That's my choice, no need to take the default.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
oneMadRssn Avatar
8 months ago
I think every AI company is missing the forest for the trees here.

People yearn for a search engine like how Google was back in the early 2000s. But this is impossible today because SEO ruined it. Now we have all these AI companies delivering quick answers to questions, but this is not search.

OpenAI or anyone else should leverage AI to show search results in a list like they used to be. Specifically, use the AI to select the top 10, 20, 100, or whatever web sites with the information you are seeking, display them in a list, with a little blurb quoting and excerpting relevant info from each link. This way, it could filter out the SEO garbage, direct the user to the info they are seeking, but still provide a semblance of control and choice by showing it in a list format instead of just a robo-answer to a question.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)