Google is facing a major antitrust lawsuit in the US. The company has admitted to paying Samsung a large sum of money every month to make Gemini AI the default assistant on Samsung devices. This deal was struck in January, just after Google was found guilty of violating antitrust laws.
The agreement is a two-year contract with a fixed payment amount. Samsung also gets a share of the revenue from Gemini subscriptions. When Samsung released the Galaxy S25 series, Gemini became the default AI assistant. Users can activate it by holding down the power button. Bixby, Samsung’s own AI assistant, is now a backup option.
Other Companies Also Made Offers
Google’s vice president of platforms and device partnerships, Peter Fitzgerald, testified that other companies, like Perplexity and Microsoft, also offered deals to Samsung to be the default AI assistant. However, the US Justice Department’s lawyers argued that Google’s letters to phone brands to change the agreement were sent just before the trial. They also found that Google planned to make the agreement more binding by requiring companies to install Gemini alongside Search and Chrome.
The case is ongoing, with the next step being to determine the penalties for Google’s antitrust violations. A judge had already ruled that Google Search is an illegal monopoly.
The source of this information is The Verge.