Remedies in the Google search antitrust trial expected any day now and could spell the end of Google's exclusivity deal with Apple.

For today's tech check, Mackenzie Segalos explains why that might actually be a silver lining for Google.

Morning Mac.

Hey, good morning, Carl.

So Google has been paying over $26 billion a year to secure those default statuses on phones and browsers, but with the court ruling looming, that spend could soon be banned, a shift that some experts say could ultimately benefit the company.

I spoke to competition economists, including a former FTC chair, and their view is its search functions as a natural monopoly,

a utility that's more like water, rewarding scale as people stick with what works.

And that's why Google's market share is barely budged in Europe, even after regulators forced

users to pick their own default.

Apple made the same point in court.

Its lead negotiator on the Google contract

testified that there was no price that Microsoft could offer to make the switch to Bing

because Google delivered the better user experience and monetization engine. Now, these deals

began back in 2003. That was well before the iPhone or Chrome when Firefox had 30% of

the browser market and no one had

one search.

But even after Microsoft poured $100 billion into Bing, it still hasn't come close.

And that's why legal experts say that these payments are no longer about driving demand,

their innovation insurance meant to freeze the market and fend off future threats.

And now the bigger threat is coming from generative AI.

And that's why Wall Street sees upside if Google stops spending nearly a quarter of its operating income on default deals

and redirects that cash into Gemini.

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