Google Disputes Apple VP's Claim of Safari Search Traffic Decline

Google has issued a rare public statement seemingly contradicting Apple senior VP Eddy Cue's courtroom testimony that Safari browser searches declined for the first time in April 2025.

Google Logo Feature Slack
Cue's comments, made during the ongoing U.S. Justice Department antitrust lawsuit against Google, triggered a 7.51% drop in Google's stock price on Wednesday.

In a post to its blog The Keyword, under the title "Here's our statement on this morning's press reports about Search traffic," Google said:

We continue to see overall query growth in Search. That includes an increase in total queries coming from Apple's devices and platforms. More generally, as we enhance Search with new features, people are seeing that Google Search is more useful for more of their queries — and they're accessing it for new things and in new ways, whether from browsers or the Google app, using their voice or Google Lens. We're excited to continue this innovation and look forward to sharing more at Google I/O.

The dispute centers around the $20 billion agreement making Google the default search engine on Apple devices. While testifying, Cue attributed the alleged search decline to users switching to AI services like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude.

Cue added that he believes AI services will eventually replace conventional search engines like Google. As a result, Apple will need to add them as options in Safari in the future. Cue said the company had already held discussions with Perplexity about browser integration.

Tag: Google

Popular Stories

Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
CarPlay Ultra Climate Controls

Apple Says These Vehicle Brands Plan to Offer All-New CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. CarPlay Ultra features deep integration with a vehicle's instrument cluster and systems, built-in Radio and Climate apps, customizable widgets, and more. The interface is tailored to each vehicle model and automaker's identity, and drivers can also adjust...
iPhone 12 Made in India

Trump Tells Tim Cook to Stop Building iPhones in India

Thursday May 15, 2025 2:21 am PDT by
President Donald Trump has asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to halt the company's manufacturing expansion in India, in a potential disruption of Apple's plan to shift iPhone production away from China. "I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said during his state visit to Qatar, according to Bloomberg. "He is building all over India." "They [India] have offered us a deal where...
apple music

Apple Music Gets New Transfer Tool to Make Switching From Spotify Easier

Wednesday May 14, 2025 5:17 pm PDT by
Apple this week introduced a new feature designed to allow prospective Apple Music users to import their saved music and playlists from third-party music services to Apple Music. The feature is either in an expanded testing phase or it has started rolling out, and it is available in Australia and New Zealand according to an Apple Support document. Signs of the transfer option first surfaced...
maxresdefault

Here's the First Real-World Look at Apple's CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:52 am PDT by
The first videos of Apple's CarPlay Ultra experience are now available, providing a never-before-seen look at the long-anticipated iPhone-linked infotainment software. British automaker Aston Martin today shared the first video of Apple's CarPlay Ultra experience in-action, followed by a detailed walk-through of the CarPlay Ultra system on Top Gear's YouTube channel, which provides the...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.5 With New Wallpaper, Screen Time Changes, Carrier Satellite Support for iPhone 13 and More

Monday May 12, 2025 10:06 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5, the fifth updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that came out last September. iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 come a little over a month after Apple released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. The iOS 18.5 update has a...
fortnite apple logo 2

Epic Resubmits Fortnite to U.S. App Store After Not Hearing From Apple for 120+ Hours

Wednesday May 14, 2025 1:01 pm PDT by
On Friday, Epic Games submitted Fortnite to the U.S. App Store, and since then, we've been waiting to see if Apple would approve the game and allow it back on the iPhone and the iPad. There's been no word from Apple so far, but Epic Games opted to pull its first App Store review request, and has now resubmitted Fortnite. Fortnite leaker Shiina shared the news, with the information reposted by...

Top Rated Comments

wanha Avatar
1 week ago
"people are seeing that Google Search is more useful for more of their queries"

this is marketing speak, not a court statement
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tridley68 Avatar
1 week ago
Google search is the first thing I get rid of when I get a new phone or macbook
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Henriok Avatar
1 week ago
I need more context here.. Could it be that Apple see's a decline in Google searches through their applications (Safari, Siri, Spotlight, etc…) while Google states that there's no decline from Apple's devices. Both could very well be true.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alexxkidd Avatar
1 week ago
Does Apple seriously believe OpenAI has a future? They don't have the capacity to expand, that is why they won't go profit any time soon.Google on the other hand is killing it with Gemini 2.5 Pro
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
senttoschool Avatar
1 week ago
Precisely why I don't own Google stocks. I've been doing more and more queries on ChatGPT (I pay $20/month) and less and less on Google.

That said, I will be watching Google stocks closely. If it drops to something like 10 P/E, I'm buying.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Agneev Avatar
1 week ago

Apple senior VP Eddy Cue's courtroom testimony that Safari browser searches declined for the first time in April 2025
What exactly did he say? Pretty reckless to not include his statement unless it's not publicly available.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)