John Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice president of ML and AI strategy, took the stand this week to testify in the ongoing Department of Justice antitrust suit against Google. During his testimony, Giannandrea specifically pointed to a little-known new feature in iOS 17 related to the iPhone’s default search engine.
Apple has found itself involved in the DOJ’s lawsuit, which is focused on whether Google abuses its position in the search engine industry. Apple is not named as a defendant in the case, but the multibillion-dollar default search engine deal between it and Google is one of the key aspects of the trial.
As we’ve covered in the past, Google pays Apple billions of dollars every year to retain its status as the default search engine on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The DOJ believes that this deal could play a key role in Google’s overall abuse of power in the search industry.
As reported by Bloomberg, during hearings on Thursday and Friday, Giannandrea pointed out that iOS 17 added a new setting that allows users to choose two different default search engines on their devices. One of the settings is for normal Safari browsing, while the new second option is specifically for Private Browsing.
Google is still the default for both of those settings. The difference is that you now have that added layer of granular control to set different defaults for both Safari browsing modes. You can find the new option by going to the Settings app, choosing “Safari,” and then looking for the new “Private Search Engine” option. You can choose between Google, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia.
This feature largely flew under the radar during iOS 17 beta testing over the summer. iOS 17, however, is now available to the general public, and Apple seems to think the new search option is a key aspect of its deal with Google.
Top comment by John Sellers
I am a primarily windows user who hates Microsoft's Edge browser which they continually try to stuff down your throat at every opportunity in spite of my preference for Google Chrome browser. (Even if I like Bill Gates in spite of his acceptance of over-complicated solutions. For example, Windows is system that can't be fixed statically unless booted)
But I own two iPad Pros and would be in real trouble if I couldn't use Google Chrome.
However, recently I posted in Apple Help a problem on the iPad Pro would not display the Chrome Labs Icon even though I successfully can access Google Labs indirectly through the Chrome Browser URL.
During my extensive and failed hunt for a solution I stumbled on the strange behavior of Chrome in a certain context in which selection and editing were broken in the new iPadOS 17 environment.
As I have been the victim of Microsoft turf wars where Microsoft was the biggest Perp, I assumed without evidence that Apple was probably the prep in the bad Chrome behavior although certainly not as near as aggressive as Microsoft has been in Windows.
My comment on possible Google behavior, it is clear to me that while they may be pervasive, they have not been near aggressive toward the users to use their stuff as Microsoft has been on Windows where almost every hook tries to lock out the competition from defaulting to the user's preferences if they are not Microsoft's stuff.
I have lost untold hours and even days of my personal effort because of that behavior.
Giannandrea’s testimony is believed to be of particular importance to the case. Prior to joining Apple in 2018, Giannandrea worked at Google for eight years and served as the company’s senior vice president of engineering for search.
Apple’s Eddy Cue and Adrian Perica are also set to testify as part of the case. Apple had argued that there is no need for Cue, Giannandrea, and Perica to testify in the case, but the court disagreed.
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