Google Pays Between $8 - 12 Billion Annually to Be Default Search Engine on Apple Devices [Report]

Google is paying Apple between $8 and $12 billion annually to be the default search engine for its products, according to the New York Times.

Apple now receives an estimated $8 billion to $12 billion in annual payments — up from $1 billion a year in 2014 — in exchange for building Google’s search engine into its products. It is probably the single biggest payment that Google makes to anyone and accounts for 14 to 21 percent of Apple’s annual profits. That’s not money Apple would be eager to walk away from.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of violating antitrust laws.


The complaint alleges that Google has entered into a series of exclusionary agreements that collectively lock up the primary avenues through which users access search engines, and thus the internet, by requiring that Google be set as the preset default general search engine on billions of mobile devices and computers worldwide and, in many cases, prohibiting preinstallation of a competitor.

Google responded saying, "This isn’t the dial-up 1990s, when changing services was slow and difficult, and often required you to buy and install software with a CD-ROM. Today, you can easily download your choice of apps or change your default settings in a matter of seconds—faster than you can walk to another aisle in the grocery store."

To learn more about the lawsuit click here.

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