While Google and Apple have never disclosed the exact amount, the search giant is known to pay the iPhone manufacturer billions of dollars each year to keep it as the default search engine on iPhone, Mac, and other devices. A new class action lawsuit filed in California alleges the regulation harms other search engine companies and businesses that advertise to Google. In addition, he argues that Apple and Google should be split into smaller companies, as they violate US anti-monopoly laws.
What’s particularly interesting about this case is that, if it goes as far as the discovery process, we’ll finally be able to find out the exact amount Google pays Apple each year to make it the default search engine on their devices.
Google’s payments to Apple stood at $18 billion this year, based on disclosures in Apple’s public filings and an analysis of Google’s traffic acquisition costs, according to a recent estimate in an investor note released by financial services firm AB Bernstein. It could be between $20 billion.
In addition to paying to remain the default search engine on devices, part of the deal between the two companies allegedly requires Apple not to compete against Google in the search business. There have been rumors about an Apple Search Engine for a while, but they have no basis, as if Apple were indeed developing its own search product, the company would be in breach of its existing contract with Google.
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