You may remember hearing that Google pays Apple a lot of money to be the default search engine on Safari. Google is also being sued for doing unfair things. Now it seems Google is getting ready just in case it loses the right to be Safari’s default. They want iPhone users to try searching with the Google and Chrome apps instead.
Why is Google doing this? Well, if it’s not the default search engine on Safari anymore, Google estimates it would lose about 70% of the searches done on iPhones. That would cost Google a lot of money. Google makes billions from being the default, so it wants to protect that. Losing the deal would also hurt Apple since they earned over $20 billion from it last year.
To get iPhone users to try its apps, Google has run ads highlighting special features you can only use there, like Google Lens. Executives even thought about locking special search tools to the apps but changed their mind. So far getting more people to search from the apps has worked somewhat. Five years ago only 25% of searches on iPhones used Google apps, but now it’s up to 30%.
But Google’s goal is for half of all iPhone searches, 50%, to happen on its apps by 2030. Reaching past 30% has been difficult. If they can get iPhone users comfortable searching from the Google and Chrome apps, it means they won’t lose as much business even if they are no longer Safari’s top choice. Only time will tell if their efforts pay off!
