Friday 9 September 2022 10:01 PM Apple could lose $15B if DOJ forces Google to stop paying to be iPhone's ... trends now
Apple stands to lose up to $15 billion a year if the Justice Department forces Google to stop paying the company to be the default search engine on all iPhones - as regulators question the legality of the longtime arrangement.
Anytime iPhone users open a web browser to enter a search query, it always defaults to Google. Even though anyone can change this setting, almost no one does, resulting in a huge amount of traffic (and ad revenue) to Google from over a billion iPhone users worldwide.
Analysts from Bernstein estimated that Google's payment to Apple would increase to $15 billion in 2021 and as high as $18-$20 billion this year, reports 9to5Mac.
Apple stands to lose up to $15 billion a year if the Justice Department forces Google to stop paying the company to be the default search engine on all iPhones
The contracts are the basis of the DOJ's antitrust against the California-based company, which began in the closing days of the Trump administration and won't head to trial until sometime in 2023
Last year, Apple's total gross profit was over $152 billion - so losing the Google payments would shave at least 10% off.
This arrangement between the two tech behemoths that dates to the early 2000s is under threat - with regulators accusing Google of anti-competitive practices to maintain its dominance in the search business.
'Google invests billions in defaults, knowing people won’t change them,' Department of Justice attorney Kenneth Dintzer said during a Thursday hearing in the antitrust case. 'They are buying default exclusivity because defaults matter a lot.'
The contracts are the basis of the DOJ's antitrust suit against the California-based company, which began in the closing days of the Trump administration. States are also pursuing a parallel antitrust suit against Google.
'Google invests billions in defaults, knowing people won’t change them,' Department of
