Microsoft Corp.’s Bing may replace Alphabet Inc.’s Google as the default search service on Samsung Electronics Co. devices, according to a New York Times report on Sunday. This potential move by Samsung, the world’s leading smartphone maker, puts at risk roughly $3 billion in annual revenue for Google.
Samsung is considering making the switch to Bing, which would be a significant blow to Google’s search dominance. Bing’s threat to Google has grown more credible in recent months with the addition of OpenAI’s technology to provide ChatGPT-like responses to user queries. Google has responded by working on several projects to update and renew its search services to avoid losing ground, including adding artificial intelligence features to its existing offerings under a project named Magi.
Google is “excited about bringing new AI-powered features to search and will share more details soon,” Lara Levin, a Google spokeswoman, said in a statement. However, negotiations with Samsung are still ongoing, and the Korean company may yet decide to keep Google as its default provider. Samsung shipped 261 million smartphones in 2022, according to IDC data, all running Google’s Android software. The Korean company has long-established partnerships with both Microsoft and Google, and its devices come preloaded with a library of apps and services from both, such as OneDrive and Google Maps. Between its Samsung deal and one with Apple Inc., which the Times report valued at roughly $20 billion in annual revenue, Google has commanding market share in mobile devices in the US and much of the rest of the world. Large language models, such as the one underpinning ChatGPT and the chatbot functionality in Microsoft’s Bing, are not new to Google. The company has been using LLMs to anticipate the intent of users’ queries, Google’s chief business officer said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in February. Google is also rolling out Bard, its own chatbot search assistant, though doing so at a very cautious pace. If Samsung were to switch to Bing as its default search provider, it would be a major boost for Microsoft, which has been trying to gain a foothold in the search market for years. However, even if Samsung were to make the switch, Google’s market share in mobile devices would still be dominant. In conclusion, Samsung’s potential move to replace Google with Bing as its default search provider is a significant development in the search engine market. Google is working to update and renew its search services to avoid losing ground, but Bing’s threat has grown more credible in recent months with the addition of OpenAI’s technology. Whether or not Samsung decides to make the switch, Google’s dominance in the mobile device market remains significant.
