Bing May Become Samsung's Chosen Search Engine, Giving Google The Cold Shoulder

Google has remained the world's favorite search engine for over two decades, consistently accounting for 90% market share. Such was Google's dominance in the space, most people didn't even consider using alternate search engines like Microsoft Bing and DuckDuckGo. However, recent AI-infused changes to Bing are seemingly changing the status quo. Thanks to these feature additions, an increasing number of users are flocking to Microsoft Bing, and moving away from Google Search. Now, a major smartphone maker, Samsung is taking note.

Per a new report by Sammobile, Samsung is reportedly working on a deal with Microsoft to make Bing the default search engine on its Galaxy range of Android smartphones. If the deal goes through, Samsung smartphones of the future will, by default, use Microsoft Bing for looking up information online. Currently, this task is handled by Google — which pays Samsung a hefty amount to be the default search engine on Samsung devices. If the deal goes through, it would be a major coup for Microsoft, which has tried almost everything in the book to compete against Google Search, only to fail repeatedly.

Microsoft's decision to integrate ChatGPT's conversational AI chatbot into Bing Search will also mean that it will open up Bing to millions of Samsung smartphone users, who will switch to Bing from Google without even realizing that the switch happened. This could also result in a massive market-share jump for Bing, given the sheer popularity of Samsung smartphones worldwide.

More than two decades as the dominant search engine seems to have made the head honchos of Google a bit complacent. It almost feels as if the company never expected Bing to pose any real threat to Google in the foreseeable future and, therefore, decided against taking contingency plans. On the other hand, Microsoft and Bing had nothing to lose and, earlier this year, caught everyone off guard when it announced the integration of ChatGPT into Bing Search.

What makes the story even more interesting is that Google has been working on its suite of AI-powered tools for a long time. However, with no real competition in the space, the developmental phase was slow. The company also did not expect AI to go mainstream at the current pace, thereby finding itself trailing behind Open AI.

Meanwhile, a recent New York Times report indicates that Google is scrambling to launch a new version of its Search Engine with a new AI algorithm codenamed 'Magi' as early May 2023. To expedite the pace of Magi AI's development, Google has reportedly dedicated a team of over 160 designers, engineers, and executives for timely project completion. If things go to plan, we could see the Magi in action at Google I/O 2023. In addition, Google has already opened up its conversational AI chatbot — Google Bard — to a limited set of users, and an AI-infused search engine is a logical next step.