Apple Inc. announced Monday that it’s switching default search engines for Siri and Spotlight and is dropping Microsoft Corp.’s Bing in favor of Google Inc.

Google was already the default in Apple’s Safari web browser, but it will now also be the default for Siri web searches. For example, when Siri is unable to provide an answer to a question and needs to search the web, it will now be using Google rather than Bing to provide an answer.

In addition, Google is also now the default search engine for Search inside iOS, formerly called Spotlight, and Spotlight on the Mac. The change, according to Apple, is for there to be a more consistent experience across Siri, Search within iOS, Spotlight on Mac and Safari. The change comes a week after iOS 11 was released and the same day as the release of MacOS High Sierra.

It emerged last month that Alphabet Inc. was paying Apple billions of dollars to keep Google the default search engine on iPhones. According to A.M. Sacconaghi Jr., analyst at AllianceBernstein L.P., the payments to Apple could total more than $3 billion this year. In his estimation, this amount could account for 5 percent of Apple’s total operating profits for 2017.

Google continues to hold a dominant position in the search engine market, and with nearly 15 percent of phones using iOS worldwide, according to the International Data Corp., Apple’s switch could be very beneficial for the search engine giant. Google highlighted the important role of mobile search in earning $22.67 billion in advertising revenue in its second quarter.  

Bing, for the time being at least, will remain the default search engine for web image searches from Siri. “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,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in response to the shift to Google. “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.”

The news also comes the same day that Microsoft introduces a private preview of Bing for Business at the company’s Ignite enterprise conference. Bing for Business will augment search results with a company’s internal data.

Apple’s move to Google is rolling out globally to all iOS and Mac users.

Image: iphonedigital; Flickr