How much does Google pay Apple for that default search spot on the iPhone? $1 billion

$1 billion dollars. That's how much Google paid Apple in a revenue sharing deal to be the default search engine on the iPhone in 2014.

This revelation follows the reporting that Google generated $22 billion in profit on $31 billion in revenue to date from Android.

Bloomberg uncovered the figure in a transcript of court proceedings from Oracle's copyright lawsuit battle with Google. The transcript was subsequently pulled from the electronic court records following objections by Google and Apple. The search giant claimed that the disclosure of this "highly sensitive" information could severely affect its ability to negotiate similar agreements with other companies

Now, while the figure is certainly impressive - although to Apple a billion dollars is chump change - what's more interesting is how different Apple's relationship with Google is behind the scenes. In public, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been critical of "gobbling up everything they can learn about you and trying to monetize it" (an underhanded reference to companies such as Google), and saying that "it's not the kind of company that Apple wants to be."

Clearly Apple isn't above taking money from such companies.

Google isn't the only search provider that Apple uses on the iPhone. Since iOS 7 searches through Siri have been powered by Bing. Prior to that Google commanded that spot too. And with the introduction of iOS 8, Apple gave iPhone and iPad owners the option to choose the privacy-minded DuckDuckGo search engine within Safari. (Bing and Yahoo are also available.)

See also:

• Is the iPhone just too darn expensive?
• Choosing the right Mac for you
• Three-quarters of iDevices now running iOS 9
• Buying a second-hand iPhone or iPad? Here's how to check it has not been stolen