Google paid Samsung $8 billion for Play Store, Assistant and Search to remain default services: report

HIGHLIGHTS

• Google’s partnership details with Samsung have been revealed.
• It pays a hefty sum just so its services remain default on Samsung phones.
• Google also shares revenue and incentives so that OEMs prioritise its services.
• Googleis the most popular search engine, and it makes sure to remain so. It’s known to pay over $18 billion to Apple so that Google remains the search engine on iPhones. Google also pays a hefty sum to Android OEMs, and one that has just come to light is how much it paid Samsung for all its key services.

·        How much Google paid Samsung

• Google reportedly paid Samsung a sum of $8 billion over four years so that its key services remain the default options on the OEM’s phones. These include Google Search, Assistant, and the Play Store. This was revealed through an antitrust trial between Google and Epic Games, Bloomberg reported.
• During the trial, James Kolotouros, VP for Partnerships at Google, confirmed this while questioned by a lawyer representing Epic Games, the report added. They said that Google’s partnership with OEMs ensured it shared app store revenue with the companies. This way Google’s services came pre-installed on Android phones, which is the case with almost all popular Android OEMs.

·        Google x Samsung

• The report further reveals that the partnership between Google and Samsung involves more than just pre-installing apps. It’s called ‘Project Banyan’, and it involves pre-installing Google apps on Android phones, and also sharing revenue including incentives. This  even proposed removing the Galaxy Store from home screens but this was not agreed upon. Samsung phones come with its own app store called ‘Galaxy Store’ where you can download apps that are otherwise available on the Play Store as well.

n addition to Google apps coming pre-installed on Android phones, OEMs are also paid to make sure these services are prioritised. This  dominance greatly increases and to do so it does shell out a hefty sum. According to the report, Google proposed spending $2.9 billion in 2020, which then increased to $4.5 billion in 2023. 

• This  has announced that Chrome 120 will not support Android Nougat.
• Chrome is the world’s most popular web browser today including on desktop and mobile devices with billions of active users worldwide.
• While Chrome 120 will not ship to Android Nougat, newer operating systems will continue to receive updates.

This  is the most popular and widely used web browser in the world, both on desktops and Android devices, with new releases happening every four weeks. Recently, Chrome also got a Material You revamp in September on its 15th birthday. While new improvements are always welcome, the company also discontinues support for older operating systems to better support its browser. In its recent announcement, announced that it will end support for Android Nougat and Chrome 119 will be the last version to support the operating system. This means that users on Android 7.0 and 7.1 will no longer receive any updates including security updates, leaving a chunk of Android users exposed to new security threats.

Chrome 120 will not ship to Android Nougat

• This  in its Chrome Enterprise and Education Help release notesblog notes that it is ending support for Android Nougat. “The last version of Chrome that supports Android Nougat is Chrome 119,” the company writes.
• chrome 120, set to release on December 6th, 2023, will not ship to users running Android 7.0 and 7.1.
• Chrome 119 will include a notification for Android Nougat users, suggesting users upgrade to newer Android versions.
• According to recent Android version distribution data, Android Nougat, which was released in 2016, runs on nearly 2.6 percent of the total Android devices today, while the recent Android 13 version holds a market share of 22.4 percent.
• Google usually discontinues support for older operating systems to keep the browser stable and more secure.

New features arriving in Chrome 120

Users operating on more recent operating systems can anticipate a variety of new features and improvements with the arrival of Chrome 120, including support for a transparent navigation bar on Android for an improved browsing experience (via Android Police). Elsewhere, Chrome is expected to include these features with the release of Chrome 120:

• Default search engine choice:Chrome will offer users a choice to choose their default search engine. The feature is expected to roll out gradually to all users and is set to be widely available to everyone with Chrome 122 release.
• Revamped safety check on Desktop:Google will proactively begin inspecting Chrome for safety-related issues to enhance user protection.
• Third-party cookie depreciation:Chrome will start disabling third-party cookies globally starting with Chrome 120. As usual, this rollout is expected to happen gradually.
• Package tracking for iOS:Chrome on iOS devices will introduce a new package tracking feature to enable users to track packages with their “estimated delivery dates and package status appearing in a new card on the New tab page”.
• Network services will be sandboxed on Windows:To better protect its users on Windows devices, Chrome will sandbox the network services already running in its own process.
• Resume the last tab from other devices (iOS):When signed in, Chrome will display a banner notification on your current device to let users easily resume the last active tab from any of your devices.