MICROSOFT’s Bing may replace Alphabet’s Google as the default search service on Samsung Electronics devices, according to a New York Times report on Sunday.
Suwon-based Samsung, the world’s leading smartphone maker, is considering making the switch, putting at risk roughly US$3 billion in annual revenue for Google.
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.