Apple is reportedly planning to revamp Safari to give attention to AI serps.

In accordance with latest testimony within the Google antitrust case, this comes as the corporate prepares for doable modifications to its worthwhile Google deal.

Apple Alerts Shift In Search Technique

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vp of providers, testified that Safari searches dropped for the primary time final month.

He believes customers are selecting AI instruments over common serps. This transformation occurs as courts resolve what to do after Google misplaced its antitrust case in August.

Per a report from Bloomberg, Cue testified:

“You might not want an iPhone 10 years from now as loopy because it sounds. The one approach you really have true competitors is when you’ve got know-how shifts. Expertise shifts create these alternatives. AI is a brand new know-how shift, and it’s creating new alternatives for brand new entrants.”

AI Search Suppliers Might Substitute Conventional Search

Cue believes AI search suppliers akin to OpenAI, Perplexity AI, and Anthropic will finally substitute conventional serps like Google.

“We are going to add them to the checklist — they most likely received’t be the default,” Cue mentioned, noting Apple has already talked with Perplexity.

At the moment, Apple gives ChatGPT as an possibility in Siri and plans so as to add Google’s Gemini later this 12 months.

Cue admitted that these AI search instruments want to enhance their search indexes. Nevertheless, he mentioned their different options are “so a lot better that individuals will change.”

“There’s sufficient cash now, sufficient massive gamers, that I don’t see the way it doesn’t occur,” he mentioned concerning the shift from normal search to AI-powered choices.

Context: Google’s Antitrust Battle Timeline

This testimony comes throughout a key second within the case in opposition to Google:

  • August 2024: Choose Mehta dominated Google broke antitrust legislation by way of unique search offers
  • October 2024: DOJ proposed treatments concentrating on search distribution, information utilization, search outcomes, and promoting
  • December 2024: Google supplied counter-proposals to loosen search offers
  • March 2025: DOJ filed revised proposals, together with probably forcing Google to promote Chrome

The $20 Billion Query

The core subject is Google’s cope with Apple, value a reported $20 billion per 12 months, that makes Google the default search engine on Safari.

Whereas anticipating modifications to this deal, Cue admitted he has “misplaced sleep over the potential of shedding the income share from their settlement.”

We realized about this cost through the trial. In 2022, Google paid Apple $20 billion to be Safari’s default search engine.

Final 12 months, they expanded their partnership so as to add Google Lens to the Visible Intelligence function on new iPhones.

Proposed Treatments & Responses

The DOJ’s newest filing suggests a number of vital modifications:

  • Making Google dump Chrome
  • Limiting Google’s funds for default search placement
  • Stopping Google from favoring its merchandise in search outcomes
  • Making Google’s promoting practices extra clear

Google has criticized these proposals, calling them a “radical interventionist agenda” that might “break a variety of Google merchandise.”

As an alternative, Google suggests letting browser corporations cope with a number of serps and giving system makers extra freedom about which search choices are preloaded.

What This Means

If Apple shifts Safari towards AI, put together for vital changes in search.

It’s not a stretch to say the result may reshape search competitors and digital advertising and marketing for years.

Featured Picture: Bendix M/Shutterstock


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