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Apple has a growing interest in search technology. A financial times report suggests that the iPhones now shows its own results through a search box on the home screens. Thus, it might even be working on a product to compete with Google. The most visible change is the fact that in iOS 14 shows an increase in activity from Apple’s web crawler.
We should know that Google has been the iPhone's default search engine for more than 10 years. But currently, Apple's partnership with Google is under threat from the US Department of Justice. They have marked an antitrust case that aims to break Google's grip on search engines. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean Apple and Google will soon be going head-to-head in search. It could just be a sign that Apple’s Siri voice assistant is getting more search queries.
Apple taking on Google for real?
Apple has not commented on the situation yet. But reports in the past have said it had begun some in-house research on creating a search engine. According to the FT, it also hired Google’s head of search, John Giannandrea, two years ago. The move designed to help build artificial intelligence capabilities and its Siri virtual assistant.
According to Search Engine Land, there are direct links to websites in Apple’s mobile SERP. The report states that on iPhones, users can swipe right from the home screen to start a search. Apple typically presents Google results on top, which open in Safari as indicated by the Safari icons, followed by “Siri suggested websites” in many instances. These links send users directly to publisher sites and not through Google.
Apple is getting a massive, $8-12 billion (roughly Rs. 59,227-88,841 crores) fee per year from Google for keeping its search engine as default on iOS devices. So, this speculative report could be a fake alarm or the company is only trying the feature. Yet, Apple's mobile smartphone dominance, and thus, search engine domination poses a real threat to Google.