Google has filed an appeal against a 2024 court decision that found the company violated antitrust law by paying Apple to be the default search engine on iPhone. In its filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Google argues that the lower court was wrong to link its search market success to restricting competition rather than product quality.
The company maintains that Apple chose Google Search fairly and on merit, citing innovation, investment, and superior user experience. Google contends its agreements did not prevent rivals from offering better terms to Apple or Mozilla, and users could always switch to another search engine in Safari settings. Any exclusivity identified by the court, Google says, was Apple's business decision, not something Google imposed.
Now Google is asking the appeals court to overturn the remedies ordered for the monopoly. The company was required to share search data, disclose how users interact with search, and provide results to competitors. If the appeal fails, Google will have to start complying once technical rules and access terms are finalized.
Google separately opposes giving data to generative AI companies, arguing that such products did not exist during the period covered by the Justice Department's suit and that those companies are already growing rapidly without access to Google's search data. Including them as potential data recipients, Google argues, makes no sense.
The Google-Apple deal remains central to the case. Google pays Apple billions of dollars each year to be Safari's default search engine. The court did not ban such payments entirely, but Google can no longer sign exclusive distribution deals, though it can still pay Apple to appear among search options on iPhone.
The Justice Department had pushed for tougher measures, including a possible sale of the Chrome browser or even spinning off Android, but the court did not go that far. Details of the remedies are still being worked out: a technical committee must still set licensing rules, privacy protections, and criteria for which companies can access the data.
Oral arguments on Google's appeal have not been scheduled yet, so a final decision may not come until late 2026 or early 2027. The outcome will matter greatly for Apple, Google, and the entire search market, affecting not only the multibillion-dollar agreement but also how far regulators can go in reshaping the search ecosystem.