tech
February 5, 2026
Alphabet won't talk about the Google-Apple AI deal, even to investors
Alphabet CEO skipped an analyst's question about Apple on the company's earnings call.
TL;DR
- Alphabet declined to answer investor questions about Google's AI deal with Apple during its earnings call.
- The Google-Apple search partnership previously involved Google paying Apple $20 billion to be the default search engine.
- The new AI deal is rumored to cost Apple around $1 billion annually.
- The direct financial payoff for Google from the AI deal is less obvious than the search deal.
- Google is experimenting with ads and agentic shopping within its AI Mode, which could represent the future of its search business.
- Google's AI competitor, Anthropic, is challenging ad-supported AI business models.
- Alphabet executives briefly mentioned the Apple deal, noting Google as Apple's 'preferred cloud provider' assisting with 'next generation of Apple foundation models based on Gemini technology'.