Google Is Spared a Search-Engine Switch by a Major Partner
Samsung Electronics suspends internal review that contemplated changing its smartphones’ default search engine from Google to Microsoft’s Bing
By Jiyoung Sohn
Wall Street Journal
May 19, 2023 6:06 am ET
SEOUL— Samsung Electronics won’t be swapping out the default search engine on its smartphones from Google to Microsoft’s Bing any time soon, according to people familiar with the matter.
Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker, has suspended an internal review that had explored replacing Google with Bing on its mobile devices, the people said. The potential switch would have swapped out Google as the go-to search engine on Samsung’s “Internet” web-browsing app, which comes preinstalled on the South Korean company’s smartphones.
Any imminent breakup would have handed Bing a coveted victory in a search-engine space that has long been dominated by Alphabet-owned Google. This year, Bing gained some fresh momentum as it adopted the features of ChatGPT, the chatbot that has surged in popularity and is run by Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
Google, Microsoft and Samsung declined to comment. The prospects of Samsung’s search-engine changing from Google to Bing were reported by the New York Times last month.
The South Korean tech giant initially deliberated a search-engine switch, thinking that it wouldn’t substantially change the status quo since the majority of Samsung smartphone users don’t use its in-house Internet app, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Most users opt for other browsers including Google Chrome, which also comes preinstalled on Samsung phones, they said.
But now, Samsung has decided it won’t further internally discuss the matter at this time given concerns over how the switch could be perceived by the market as well as the impact on its wide-ranging business relations with Google, the people said.
The Suwon, South Korea-based company isn’t permanently closing the door on Bing as a future option, they added.
Samsung shipped roughly 260 million smartphones last year, according to tech-market researcher Counterpoint Research, accounting for roughly one-fifth of the worldwide total. Google has served as the default search engine on Samsung’s smartphones since its first model—the Galaxy S—was launched in 2010.
But Samsung’s smartphone division has long viewed its heavy reliance on Google’s software as a concern, one of the people said. Exploration of a switch to Bing was part of Samsung’s continuing efforts to find ways to diversify its smartphone software and consider new offerings, the person said.
Google’s search engine, the world’s most-visited website, currently accounts for roughly 93% of searches on computers and mobile devices, while Bing accounts for about 3%, according to the latest tracking data from Statcounter.
Google has lucrative contracts with Samsung and Apple to ensure that Google’s apps or services are default options on devices sold by the world’s two largest smartphone makers. Google pays Apple between $8 billion to $12 billion annually, according to estimates disclosed in a 2020 U.S. Justice Department lawsuit challenging Google’s anticompetitive practices.
Google is known to have a similar type of search deal with Samsung, though the sum is estimated to be significantly smaller, according to industry analysts.
Samsung and Google compete in certain product categories, though have been loyal customers of each other’s services in many other areas.
Nearly all of Samsung’s phones depend on Google’s Android operating system, with Google even customizing its apps to work on Samsung’s foldable-screen smartphones. Google is a buyer of Samsung’s memory chips and a customer of the South Korean company’s contract chip-making business.
At the same time, Samsung’s smartphones vie against Google’s Pixel phones in the Android space. They are also rivals in areas including tablets, laptops and wearables, as well as smart home devices and solutions.
Microsoft, too, has maintained a close partnership with Samsung. The two companies have worked to enable smooth connections between their offerings, such as a Windows PC syncing with apps on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone. Microsoft, a major player in the cloud-computing business, is also a key buyer of Samsung’s memory chips.
Miles Kruppa and Tom Dotan contributed to this article
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