Google Pays Samsung Hefty Sum to Pre-Install Gemini AI on Smartphones

Bloomberg reports that Google provides Samsung large monthly payments to install Gemini AI on Samsung smartphones according to testimony from an ongoing antitrust case against Google. Google VP Peter Fitzgerald testified in federal court that the payments started in January through a two-year contract.

Fitzgerald testified in court that the monthly payments existed but he refused to share the exact payment amounts. The payments made by Google amount to an “enormous sum” according to DOJ lawyer David Dahlquist. The discovery about Google's financial arrangements came to light during the remedies phase of U.S. v. Google after Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google violated antitrust laws by providing payments to Samsung and Apple for making Google the default search engine.

The case has exposed Google’s broader financial arrangements. A separate Epic Games lawsuit revealed that Google paid Samsung $8 billion from 2020 to 2023 to maintain Google Search and Play Store and Google Assistant as default features on their devices. The California federal court issued a ruling that Google must eliminate restrictions on rival marketplaces and billing systems but Google has filed an appeal against this decision.

The payments for Gemini demonstrate Google's intense drive to grow its generative AI footprint but they have sparked fairness concerns. The large sums Google devotes to boost Gemini's adoption have led some to question why the company does not provide incentives to end users instead of giving money only to manufacturers like Samsung.