Samsung’s sticking with Google as its default mobile search engine

samsung Galaxy S10

It looks like Samsung isn’t going to use Bing as the default search engine on its mobile web browser after all. That’s according to a report from The Wall Street Journal, which says Samsung paused an internal review of whether the company should replace Google with Bing on its in-house Internet Browser.

Samsung’s Internet Browser, which comes pre-installed on Samsung phones, has long used Google as its default search engine. As reported last month by The New York Times, Google employees were “shocked” to learn that Samsung had been contemplating a switch to Bing, putting at stake the $3 billion in annual revenue that the search giant gets out of the deal.

According to the WSJ, the smartphone maker decided that the switch to Bing wouldn't be too disruptive since most Samsung smartphone users (myself included) don't use the internal browser anyway. However, Samsung is now backing away from the changes due to concerns about how the move could affect its relationship with Google and how it is perceived in the market.

We don’t know why Samsung wanted to make the switch to Bing in the first place, but it’s possible that Microsoft’s rapid expansion into AI played a role. However, in recent weeks, Google has been ramping up its efforts to put AI-powered features in its search engine and has made its Bard chatbot available to everyone not on its waitlist.

This doesn’t mean Samsung will never make the switch to Bing, though. The WSJ reports that Samsung “isn’t permanently closing the door” on using Bing as its default search engine in the future.