Apple is reportedly planning to revamp Safari to concentrate on AI serps.
In accordance with latest testimony within the Google antitrust case, this comes as the corporate prepares for doable adjustments to its worthwhile Google deal.
Apple Indicators Shift In Search Technique
Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vp of companies, 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 determine what to do after Google misplaced its antitrust case in August.
Per a report from Bloomberg, Cue testified:
“Chances are you’ll not want an iPhone 10 years from now as loopy because it sounds. The one manner you really have true competitors is when you have got know-how shifts. Know-how 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 Exchange Conventional Search
Cue believes AI search suppliers akin to OpenAI, Perplexity AI, and Anthropic will finally change conventional serps like Google.
“We are going to add them to the record — they most likely received’t be the default,” Cue mentioned, noting Apple has already talked with Perplexity.
Presently, Apple presents ChatGPT as an choice in Siri and plans so as to add Google’s Gemini later this yr.
Cue admitted that these AI search instruments want to enhance their search indexes. Nevertheless, he mentioned their different options are “so significantly better that folks will swap.”
“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 commonplace search to AI-powered choices.
Context: Google’s Antitrust Battle Timeline
This testimony comes throughout a key second within the case towards Google:
- August 2024: Decide Mehta dominated Google broke antitrust regulation by means of unique search offers
- October 2024: DOJ proposed treatments focusing 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 challenge is Google’s cope with Apple, value a reported $20 billion per yr, that makes Google the default search engine on Safari.
Whereas anticipating adjustments to this deal, Cue admitted he has “misplaced sleep over the potential of dropping the income share from their settlement.”
We discovered about this fee in the course of the trial. In 2022, Google paid Apple $20 billion to be Safari’s default search engine.
Final yr, 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 submitting suggests a number of vital adjustments:
- 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 will “break a spread of Google merchandise.”
As a substitute, Google suggests letting browser corporations cope with a number of serps and giving machine makers extra freedom about which search choices are preloaded.
What This Means
If Apple shifts Safari towards AI, put together for vital adjustments 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
