Apple eyes AI search partners for Safari, threatening Google’s $20 bn iPhone deal

Apple is preparing to overhaul Safari so that iPhone and Mac users can pick AI-driven search engines such as OpenAI ChatGPT or Perplexity, senior VP Eddy Cue testified in the US antitrust case against Google. Safari queries reportedly fell for the first time last month as consumers turned to chatbots, and Apple is now “actively looking at” adding new default choices, a shift that could end Google’s 15-year stranglehold on iOS search.

The prospect rattled markets: Alphabet shares slid more than 7 percent on Wednesday, erasing about $150 billion in value. Google pays Apple an estimated $20 billion a year—roughly 36 percent of search-ad revenue generated on Safari—to remain the default engine. US regulators want that arrangement banned, arguing it cements Google’s near-90 percent market share and stifles innovation just as AI reshapes how people retrieve information.

If Apple proceeds, advertisers could gain real alternatives and siphon budgets away from Google’s search empire, analysts say. Google is scrambling to defend its turf by embedding its Gemini large-language model into search results and courting Apple to license the tech. But with ChatGPT logging a reported one billion weekly search queries and Apple signalling openness to multiple AI providers, the era of one-click Google dominance on every new iPhone may be nearing its end.