Here's how much money Apple got from Google for allowing Search to be default engine on iPhones

Alphabet — Google’s parent company — paid a staggering $20 billion to Apple in 2022 to maintain its status as the default search engine on Safari, Apple’s web browser. According to a report by Bloomberg, the amount Google paid in 2021 was around $15 billion.

The numbers were disclosed through documents which are a part of the US Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Google. One of the main premise of the antitrust case is how Google’s deal with Apple has monopolised online search business.

The amount paid by Google to Apple has increased in the last couple of years. It was $15 billion in 2021 and the recent increase shows the growing importance of maintaining a default position in a world where search engines drive significant advertising revenue — especially for Google.

Apple does give users a choice to change the search engine on all of its devices. There are options like Bing, DuckDuckGo available to users. However, by default, Google Search is set as the primary search engine in Safari on iPhones, iPads and Macs. Google does get a readymade vast customer base as Apple has billions of activated devices.