Testimony this week from Google’s antitrust trial shows that Google gives Samsung an “enormous sum of money” each month to preinstall the Gemini AI app on Samsung devices, reported Bloomberg, The Verge reported.
Now that Judge Amit Mehta has ruled Google’s search engine is an illegal monopoly, its lawyers are sparring with the DOJ over how severe a potential penalty should be.
Peter Fitzgerald, Google’s vice president of platforms and device partenerships, testified on Monday that Google’s payments to Samsung started in January. That’s after Google was found to have violated antitrust law, partially due to similar arrangements with Apple, Samsung, and other companies for search.
When Samsung launched the Galaxy S25 series in January, it also added Gemini as the default AI assistant when long-pressing the power button with its own Bixby assistant taking a back seat.
If the DOJ has its way, the results of these hearings could mean Google is forbidden from striking default placement deals in the future, would sell Chrome, and would be forced to license the vast majority of the data that powers Google Search. Google has argued that it should only have to give up the default placement deals.
Engadget reported: Google has been paying Samsung tons of cash every month to pre-install the AI app Gemini on its smartphones, according to a report by Bloomberg. This information comes to us as part of a pre-exiting antitrust case against Google.
Peter Fitzgerald, Google’s VP of platforms and device partnerships, testified in federal court that it began paying Samsung for this service back in January. The pair of companies have a contract that’s set to run at least two years.
Fitzgerald told Judge Amit Metha, who is overseeing the case, that Google provides Samsung with both fixed monthly payments and a percentage of revenue earned from advertisers within the Gemini app. The monetary figures are unknown, but DOJ lawyer David Dahlquist called it an “enormous sum of money in a fixed monthly payment.”
Judge Mehta agreed and found that this practice constitutes a violation of antitrust law. He’s currently hearing additional testimony to remedy the illegal behavior, which is where this Gemini reveal comes from.
The Economic Times reported: Alphabet’s Google contemplated deals with Android phone makers such as Samsung last year that would provide exclusivity for not only each app, but also for its Gemini AI app and Chrome browser, according to a document shown at the second day of an antitrust trial.
The US Department of Justice and a broad coalition of state attorneys general are seeking an order from a judge in Washington who would require Google to sell its Chrome browser and take other measures. They hope to end what the judge found was Google’s monopoly in online search and related advertising.
In that ruling, US District Judge Amit Mehta found that Google protected its search monopoly through exclusive agreements with Samsung Electronics and others to have its search engine installed a the default on new devices.