Google could pay Apple 9 billion to be default search engine on iPhones

Google will reportedly pay Apple an amount of $9 billion (approx Rs 65,000 crores) to remain the default search engine for iPhone's Safari browser this year. According to Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall, the amount could go up to $12 billion (about Rs. 87,000 crores) in 2019. 

The also claims that Apple is one of the biggest sources of traffic for Google on Search. “We believe this revenue is charged ratably based on the number of searches that users on Apple's platform originate from Siri or within the Safari browser,” Business Insider quoted Hall as saying in an investor note. According to the report, in 2013 and 2014 the sum was $1 billion (Approx Rs. 7,250 crores), and in 2017 the figure was reportedly $3 billion (about Rs 21,750 crores). 

Apple is said to use Google as the default search engine in Safari on iPhones and iPads that run on iOS. Apart from this, the Cupertino-based giant also uses Bing in several other places such as searching the web via Siri. Apple recently announced the financial results for its fiscal 2018 third quarter and said it posted a quarterly revenue of $53.3 billion which is an increase of 17 percent from the quarter a year-ago. 

Apple said that the international sales accounted for 60 percent of the revenue. “We’re thrilled to report Apple’s best June quarter ever, and our fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth. Our Q3 results were driven by continued strong sales of iPhone, Services and Wearables, and we are very excited about the products and services in our pipeline,” Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said at that time.. “Our strong business performance drove revenue growth in each of our geographic segments, net income of $11.5 billion, and operating cash flow of $14.5 billion. 

We returned almost $25 billion to investors through our capital return program during the quarter, including $20 billion in share repurchases,” Apple CFO Luca Maestri added. The Apple Services arm grew 31 percent from a year ago, contributing $9.6 billion in revenue (from the $7.3 billion reported for the period in 2017). The June 2018 quarter is the 13th consecutive quarter to register a double-digit revenue, Apple noted.