Android users in Europe have had the option for years to ditch Google and choose another search engine as their default. But, in most other places around the world, if you got an Android device, you’re stuck with Google. We’re now learning there was a good chance this could’ve changed for millions of people with a flick of a pen.
Last month, we reported on negotiations between Google and Samsung, the Android market’s biggest brand, to renew the search engine’s default status on Galaxy phones and tablets. Specifically, this placement would be for the stock Samsung Internet web browser on those devices. In a shock move that was thought to be motivated by the growth in artificial intelligence applications, the Korean tech giant had made it known it was considering a switch to Microsoft’s Bing.
We don’t often talk about them, but these sorts of deals – Google has some with Apple, too – are believed to be worth between $8 billion and $12 billion as of 2020 (via Android Police). They have cost the Alphabet subsidiary dearly, but they generate returns in search traffic and subsequent advertising revenues that have more than made up for it.
With Samsung shipping hundreds of millions of smartphones annually, any sort of switch-up would have had substantial consequences – including, perhaps, telegraphing the wrong message to market watchers and to Google, a close collaborator on many other projects.
We’re now hearing from sources to The Wall Street Journal that the Korean tech giant thought exactly the same thing. While corporate heads didn’t think prioritising Bing on Samsung Internet would be such a big deal – especially since most users choose Google Chrome, also pre-installed on Galaxy devices, or another web browser – they ultimately considered a switch to be too disruptive and risky… for now. Sources said the company is still open to switching search providers down the road.
To put things into perspective, researchers at StatCounter claim Samsung Internet to be the third-most popular mobile browser with a market share approaching 5%. This pales, obviously, compared to Apple’s Safari at 27% and Chrome at 62%. So, there is validity to the argument that going with Bing would’ve made for bad office politics with Google, especially considering that the two have been tied at the hip on co-developing Wear OS 3 and beyond.
With this intelligence spilling out into the press, though, it does make us wonder if we’ll be feeling the brunt of any behind-the-scenes breakdowns in the Samsung-Google relationship anyway?
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