Microsoft Corp. was in talks with Apple Inc. around 2020 for a possible sale of its Bing search engine, Bloomberg reported citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Microsoft executives met with Apple officers, but the talks never reached an advanced stage, the report said.
Apple is said to have had concerns about Bing's ability to compete with Google in quality and capabilities.
Google is Apple devices' default search engine. It was in 2002 that both companies signed their partnership, which was extended in 2021. Cue is said to be behind the current search engine partnership.
Microsoft launched Bing in 2009 to rival Google, which still remains the major search engine.
The news of the proposed Bing deal now emerged amid the ongoing legal fight between the US Department of Justice and Google over allegation of abusing its search dominance, violating antitrust laws.
Google reportedly pays more than $10 billion every year to secure its default search engine status on millions of browsers and mobile devices.
The antitrust trial features testimony from top executives from Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung.
In its testimony against Google, Apple reportedly made it clear that it has never thought to replace Google as the default on iPhones as there wasn't a valid alternative at that time.
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April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.