Apple is expected to preview iOS 19 during the WWDC 2025 keynote next June. While little is known about the company’s upcoming functions, it’s possible that Apple’s senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, might have hinted at a big iOS 19 feature being available in Safari.
As Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reports, the company’s top executive said during his testimony in the US Justice Department’s lawsuit against Google that Cupertino is “actively looking at” reshaping Safari with AI-powered search engines.
As the US Justice Department investigates Apple and Google’s estimated $20 billion-a-year deal that makes it the default search engine on the company’s devices, Cue said he believes AI search providers will likely replace standard search engines.
“We will add them to the list — they probably won’t be the default,” he said. “You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now, as crazy as it sounds. The only way you truly have true competition is when you have technology shifts. Technology shifts create these opportunities. AI is a new technology shift, and it’s creating new opportunities for new entrants.”
While this might represent a big change for Apple, Cue still believes that Google should remain Safari’s default. However, it’s very possible that we could see Perplexity, ChatGPT, and many other players as part of Apple’s AI push.
Without new Apple Intelligence features expected to be revealed before the WWDC 2025 keynote, this could be a good AI function to announce during its software event.
That way, Apple could show it is paying attention to how people are searching nowadays, while making it on its own terms—whether by adding a layer of privacy, or as an optional choice. DuckDuckGo and other search engines offer AI searches without tying queries to users.
Below, you can learn more about iOS 19 rumors.
