Google is set to pay Apple $9 billion to continue as default search engine on iOS

Apple iPhone X with the Safari app open

The fact Google pays Apple an annual fee to remain the default search engine on Safari for iPhones and iPads is certainly no big secret. In fact, in 2014 the company paid the Cupertino-based giant $1 billion, and last year this was upped to $3 billion. According to analyst Rod Hall, though, this year’s deal could see the figure rise to a whopping $9 billion.

Reportedly, Apple is one of the biggest channels of traffic acquisition for Google – it accounts for roughly half of all mobile revenue – ...