Last month, reports emerged that Samsung might be considering switching the default search engine on its smartphones to Bing from Google Search. According to the latest from the Wall Street Journal, that’s no longer the case and Samsung and Google have signed a new contract to keep the popular search engine as the default on Samsung Galaxy devices.
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That’s not to say Samsung has wholly given up the idea of switching to Bing down the road, but at this time, it “won’t be swapping out the default search engine on its smartphones from Google to Microsoft’s Bing any time soon.”
When it comes to Android, plenty of intertwined contracts and options have to be considered. In addition to Google Search, which Google often pays companies to use as the default option, specific default app preferences must also be followed when an OEM uses Android on its devices in order to avoid licensing fees. For OEMs that don’t, Google has charged up to $40/phone for implementing different default apps.
Samsung and Google have had a pretty close relationship for quite a few years now and it’s likely Samsung’s mention of considering Bing over Google Search was a negotiation tactic during whatever contracts were up for renewal.
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