Apple executives talk about why Google is chosen as the default engine for iPhone: we pick the best and allow users to replace

CTOnews.com, Sept. 27 (Xinhua)-- Eddy Cue, Apple's head of services, appeared in court today to testify in an antitrust trial between the U.S. Department of Justice and Google, answering questions about the deal to use Google as the default search engine on iPhone, iPad and Mac devices.

Google pays Apple billions of dollars a year to set Google as the default search engine on Apple devices, CTOnews.com said, citing a report disclosed by The Verge today. Most of the trials were conducted behind closed doors, and officials did not disclose how much Google paid Apple.

Cue testified that the last deal between Apple and Google dates back to 2016, and when asked why Apple chose Google as its default search engine, Cue said "there was no effective replacement for Google at that time."

"We made Google the default search engine because we always thought it was the best, we chose the best one and allowed users to easily change it," Cue said.

Cue admits that Apple is not allowed to change the default search engine in the iPhone boot settings for the first time, but the decision is to get users up and running as soon as possible.