Google may lose search on Samsung devices to Microsoft Bing: Report
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| image credits - Bloomberg |
Suwon-based Samsung, the world’s leading smartphone maker, is considering making the switch, putting at risk roughly $3 billion in annual revenue for Google, the report said. Bing’s threat to Google’s search dominance has grown more credible in recent months with the addition of OpenAI’s technology to provide ChatGPT-like responses to user queries.
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. Negotiations are still ongoing and Samsung may yet decide to keep Google as its default provider, according to the report.
In order not to lose ground, Google is working on several projects to modernize and update its search services. According to the Times, more than 160 people are working on adding AI capabilities as part of a project called 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. A Google representative did not comment on the company’s negotiations with Samsung. A representative from Samsung declined to comment.
During the deal between Samsung and Apple, which is worth around $20 billion in annual sales, the Mountain View, California-based search provider made investments in the United States and many other countries, according to the Times. Mobile market share in 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.