Google pays billions to Samsung, Apple in controversial search engine deals

Samsung Electronics and Apple are being paid billions of dollars by Google for making its search engine the default on their phones from deals that have been largely shrouded in mystery for over a decade.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai leaves the federal courthouse in Washington, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. [AP]

Samsung Electronics and Apple are being paid billions of dollars by Google for making its search engine the default on their phones from deals that have been largely shrouded in mystery for over a decade.

The civil antitrust suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice concerns the business dealings where Google provided the world’s two largest smartphone makers and other browser operators with a total of $26.3 billion in 2021 to be the default search engine. Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified at the federal courthouse in Washington on Monday, defending what it calls search distribution agreements which are intended to help its partners readily use its search service . “As we’ve said from the beginning, this lawsuit is deeply flawed, and we’re pleased that the court has significantly narrowed it, dismissing claims regarding the design of Google Search,” said Kent Walker, president of global affairs at Google and its parent company Alphabet in a statement.

“We plan to demonstrate at trial that our search distribution agreements reflect choices by browsers and device makers based on the quality of our services and the preferences of consumers,” the statement read.

The Justice Department sees the action as a maneuver to lock out competitors to win placement on pre-installed web browsers.

“As alleged in the complaint, over the past 15 years, Google has engaged in a course of anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct that consisted of neutralizing or eliminating ad tech competitors through acquisitions; wielding its dominance across digital advertising markets to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products; and thwarting the ability to use competing products,” the department said in a statement released in January.

Samsung Electronics declined to comment about the inquiries on the details of the contract with Google.

The contract came into the spotlight back in April when the New York Times reported that Samsung plans to use Bing as the default search engine in its mobile web browser instead of Google.

Amid the accelerating global AI race, Google’s ongoing project, named Magi, aims to upgrade its search engine service with improved personalization features. The release schedule has not been decided yet, but the company reportedly plans to release the features to up to 30 million users by the end of this year.

Samsung has chosen Google as the default on Galaxy phones since 2010 and Google’s Android operating system since 2009, the year that it started launching Galaxy smartphone lines.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]