According to recently unsealed testimony from Apple’s head of machine learning and former Google exec John Giannandrea, Apple considered buying the Bing search engine or making a “multibillion dollar investment” in a joint venture with Microsoft in 2018. This was at a time when Apple was exploring alternatives to Google for answering Siri queries and powering other iPhone and Mac features. Currently, Google pays Apple up to $19 billion per year to be the default search engine on Apple products.

The deal with Microsoft did not go through, as Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly informed Microsoft that it was not moving forward. Giannandrea stated that if Apple had entered into a joint venture with Bing, it would have had implications for Apple’s relationship with Google.

Giannandrea’s testimony was part of the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google. The government aims to demonstrate that Google has used licensing deals and contracts to monopolize the search market and exclude rivals. DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg’s testimony also suggested that Apple’s contract with Google posed challenges for competing search engines like DuckDuckGo.

The ongoing trial has focused heavily on Apple’s deal with Google to be the default search engine on Apple products. Apple executives have stated that they chose Google because it is the best search engine, not solely due to financial payments.

Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice president in charge of machine learning and AI strategy, has been responsible for enhancing Siri and Spotlight since joining Apple in 2018. During his testimony, Giannandrea discussed Apple’s internal discussions on improving Siri and Spotlight, both of which can utilize Google for queries when they lack immediate answers. The DOJ aimed to demonstrate that Apple might have invested more in its own search technology if not for the lucrative deal with Google.

Giannandrea clarified that Apple does not have a “general” search engine since it lacks a search results page. However, it competes for queries through Siri, Spotlight, and auto-complete suggestions in the Safari browser. These features leverage Apple’s technology before forwarding the query to Google. He mentioned that Apple had not made a decision on building its own general search engine due to the significant cost involved.

Giannandrea also shared that Cook had met with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in the summer of 2018, which initiated discussions on expanding Apple’s partnership with Bing. Meetings between Giannandrea, Apple’s head of business development Adrian Perica, and Microsoft took place later that year. Microsoft expressed flexibility in sharing ad revenue if a partnership were to occur, but the specific details were redacted in the transcript.

However, Giannandrea expressed skepticism about Bing’s potential and whether it would surpass Google. He compared Bing and Google search in 2021 and found that Google performed significantly better in mobile queries. He also mentioned Apple’s current efforts in search technologies, including increased investment in web crawling for language models, a popular form of AI in the tech industry.

Representatives from Apple and Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment.