Google will pay Apple $15 billion to be the default search engine on iOS

Bernstein estimates that Google will pay Apple $15 billion this year to be the default search engine in the Safari web browser on iOS devices. According to the analysts, Google wants to stay one step ahead of Microsoft in this way.

Bernstein warns of two potential risks associated with this agreement, according to journalist Philip Elmer-DeWitt. First, a changing legislative framework could make such agreements more difficult, and then Google may reconsider its choice to pay Apple annually.

In 2022, Bernstein expects Google to pay between $18 and $20 billion to Apple to remain the default search engine on iOS. According to the agency, Google paid about $10 billion to Apple in 2020 for the same reason, even though the research firm had previously estimated that Apple would receive $8 billion from the American search giant. “Based on recent financial figures and a bottom-up analysis of Google’s payments, we arrived at a higher figure,” it sounds.