Apple has finally decided to bid adieu to Microsoft’s Bing and welcome Google as the search engine to power Siri on iOS and macOS.
Previously, the default search engine used for queries made via Siri on iPhones and iPads or Spotlight on Macs was Bing. Now, the tech giant has given in and turned their back on Microsoft and switched to Google.
So, now if you ask Siri on iPhone a question and it doesn’t know the answer it will come back with the search results by Google instead of Bing. And the same will happen on Macs.
Apple has been using Google search engine as a default in their web browser Safari for both iOS and Macs, thanks to a billion-dollar deal signed between Apple and Google. And now the contract has been extended to Siri searches as well. Apple says it’s all about maintaining consistency across the platforms.
“Switching to Google as the web search provider for Siri, Search within iOS and Spotlight on Mac will allow these services to have a consistent web search experience with the default in Safari,” Apple mentioned in a statement to TechCrunch. “We have strong relationships with Google and Microsoft and remain committed to delivering the best user experience possible.”
Bing will remain a part of Apple by providing web image search results which makes perfect sense as it is one area where it can beat Google. Apart from that, video searches are directly connected to YouTube – another Google property. When searching through Siri, the results will remain anonymous until you click on ‘show Google results’ link.
Microsoft has released a statement about Apple’s decision and this is what they had to say:
“We value our relationship with Apple and look forward to continuing to partner with them in many ways, including on Bing Image Search in Siri, to provide the best experience possible for our customers. Bing has grown every year since its launch, now powering over a third of all the PC search volume in the U.S., and continues to grow worldwide. It also powers the search experiences of many other partners, including Yahoo (Verizon), AOL and Amazon, as well as the multi-lingual abilities of Twitter. As we move forward, given our work to advance the field of AI, we’re confident that Bing will be at the forefront of providing a more intelligent search experience for our customers and partners.”
