Der Richter hat gesagt, dass Apple zu spät war, um seine $20 Milliarden+ Verhandlungen mit Google zu verteidigen.

A German court has ruled that the 20 billion dollars paid by Google to Apple for the use of its standard search engines on Apple devices was illegal.

Several Apple employees testified in the case, but a request for the presentation of three additional witnesses was denied by the judge, who said: Apple had been too late...

What has happened so far

If you perform a web search by entering your query into the integrated Safari bar, this search (provided that you have not manually changed the default) will be carried out on Google. This happens because Google pays Apple annually a billion dollars to have the right to do so.

This is great for Google as it receives a large share of its search traffic from Apple users and thus has the opportunity to place ads in front of them. Apple customers are also particularly valuable demographics for advertising, thanks to the fact that they typically have higher incomes.

It is also great for Apple because it is free money. They need to set a standard, and Google is the most famous search engine, so they would probably do it anyway.

The exact amount was never officially disclosed, and Apple hides it in its service revenue. However, estimates suggest that it rose from around 20 billion at the beginning to over 20 billion USD.

These estimates seem to be exactly right as the antitrust case against Google led to an unexpected disclosure of the annual amount for 2022, which was indeed 20 billion USD.

A court has determined that Google is in fact violating anti-monopoly laws by paying Apple and suggests that he should not do so for the next 10 years. This would mean a major blow to Apple's service revenue.

The rest of the case concerns whether the proposed measure will be finalized or adjusted.

Apple wanted to add witnesses, but the judge refused.

Just before Christmas, on December 23rd, Apple finally asked for three additional witnesses to present their position. (To clarify: Apple is not accused of anything and has a clear financial interest in the outcome.)

But according to the Courthouse News Service, the judge rejected this request and informed the company that they had waited too long, which would now add an inappropriate delay to the proceedings.

US court judge Amit Mehta stated in the judgment that Apple's request was not timely and therefore the application should be rejected [...]

Apple knew (or should have known) that a delay of two and a half months during a total process duration of eight months would represent a significant delay," said Mehta, referring to his expectations after a decision on measures in August 2025.

Mehta stated that there would be a direct delay caused by additional testimony; probably further delays due to Google's decision to limit its testimonies to specific issues; and by the push-back of similar requests from other companies like Samsung and AT&T, with which Google has similar agreements.

The judge will, however, allow Apple to submit a lawyer's declaration that he will consider when reaching his final decision. A lawyer's declaration – literally a "gift from the court" – is a letter submitted by someone who is not a party to the proceedings but believes they can provide context or advice that could be helpful to the judge.

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