It was reported earlier that Google is paying Apple US$3 billion to remain as the default search engine on iOS. Now the search giant is also renewing a similar licensing deal with Samsung which would secure them significant search traffic on the world’s number 1 smartphone brand.
According to a South Korean report, Samsung could be receiving as much as 4 trillion won (about US$3.5 billion) this year from Google. Apparently, the fees are calculated based on the amount of ad revenue coming from Samsung devices.
Similar to Apple, it was reported that such licensing revenues for Samsung have been increasing in recent years. This is to be expected since Samsung has a 23.3% global market share in smartphone shipments according to IDC.
Since mobile searches have already overtaken desktop, Google has a lot to gain if it is the default search engine on popular smartphones. For 2017, Google is expected to make as much as US$73.8 billion in ad revenue. It looks like paying US$3.5 billion just to slap a search bar on the home screen is just a small price to pay.
