Apple is exploring the idea of bringing an AI tool like Perplexity to Safari — a potential shake-up to the decades-long dominance of Google in the search space. Google is currently the top search engine with 4.9 billion users.
The news emerged during testimony in the U.S. Department of Justice's ongoing antitrust trial against Google.
Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of services, revealed to Bloomberg that the company is seriously considering letting users select from a wider range of AI search engines in future versions of Safari.
Why this matters
Google currently pays Apple an estimated $20 billion per year to remain the default search engine on Apple devices. If Apple begins giving users more AI-driven options — even as secondary choices — it could signal a significant shift in how we access information online and search revenue flows in the tech industry.
Cue also noted that Safari search traffic declined for the first time in April 2025, attributing the drop to users increasingly turning to AI platforms like ChatGPT to answer questions and find information.
What AI search engines could be included? While no official timeline has been announced, Apple is reportedly looking into:
- OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a possible contender, especially with its voice and memory features that rival Gemini Live.
- Perplexity AI, the fast-growing search engine known for real-time citations and concise summaries
- Anthropic’s Claude, which is earning praise for its reasoning and clarity.
Adding these tools into Safari wouldn’t necessarily replace Google as the default (at least not yet), but it would allow users to access these conversational AI engines directly from the browser interface.
Bottom line
Apple has remained relatively quiet in the AI arms race, but this move suggests it’s paying close attention to how generative AI is changing user behavior.
With its own new Apple Intelligence features expected to debut at WWDC 2025, this may be just the beginning of a much bigger shift in how Apple incorporates AI across its ecosystem.
For now, Google Search is still the default, but the way you search from your iPhone might look very different in the near future. What are your thoughts on using AI within Safari? Let me know in the comments.
