2 weeks Ago By Joe Gallop
In yet another eyebrow-raising revelation from the ongoing antitrust case against Google, the tech giant has been paying Samsung a staggering monthly sum to pre-install its generative AI app, Gemini, on Galaxy smartphones, highlighting the lengths Alphabet Inc. will go to dominate the AI battleground. Court testimony in Washington DC, reported by Bloomberg , confirmed that Google began making the payments in January this year, under a deal set to last at least two years.
The arrangement includes fixed monthly payments as well as a share of ad revenue generated through the Gemini app. Exact figures remain unknown, but a US Department of Justice lawyer described the amount as an “enormous sum”. Peter Fitzgerald, Google’s VP of platforms and device partnerships, told the court that Samsung had also received competitive offers from Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI to preload their own AI services.
Despite that, Samsung penned the deal with Google, though it retains the option to install rival AI apps under the current contract. Google has a history of striking pre-installation deals with device makers. Between 2020 and 2023, the company reportedly paid Samsung US$8 billion (A$12.
49 billion) to make Google Search, the Play Store, and Google Assistant the defaults on its devices. A US federal judge ruled those practices violated antitrust laws – a finding that’s prompted broader scrutiny into Google’s market behaviour and business strategies. In response to mounting legal pressure, Google has since modified its existing agreements.
Fitzgerald confirmed the company recently dropped exclusivity clauses requiring Samsung to only pre-install Google’s search engine and digital assistant. But regulators aren’t letting up. The US Department of Justice is currently proposing a ban on Google from paying any company to make its services the default – whether it’s search, the Play Store, or now, AI tools like Gemini.
The Gemini payments, while controversial, underscore the fierce competition brewing in the generative AI space, with Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI all fighting for dominance. Whether that’s smart business or another example of monopolistic strong-arming is now up to the courts..
