Dive Brief:

• Apple switched from Bing to Google as its default search provider for Siri, search inside iOS and Spotlight on the Mac, reported TechCrunch.
• The reason for the switch, according to TechCrunch, is Apple's desire for consistency across its products, as Google search is already the default provider for Safari on Mac and iOS in a deal worth billions to both tech giants. 
• The full search experience still pulls from a variety of sources with Google results including web links and videos, although videos will come directly from YouTube and Siri web image results will come from Bing.

Dive Insight:

TechCrunch noted the timing of the switch is interesting because the latest version of iOS has already been released, but the High Sierra MacOS came out in tandem with the announcement. Apple search results come directly from the search API and are encrypted and made anonymous for users. Once a user clicks on a YouTube video, for example, they'll be served ads, so there appears to be a clear revenue driver for Google.

The move will ding Microsoft's Bing, which is one of the top search engines in the world among players like Yahoo and China's Baidu. Bing, while not commanding the digital ad presence of a platform like Google, has grown every year since its launch and now powers more than one-third of all the PC searches in the U.S., according to MediaPost. Apple's latest deal with Google could stifle future growth, however, and in a key emerging category as well: voice search.

Marketers are excited about voice search done through digital assistants like Siri or Amazon's Alexa as a way to reach consumers directly in the home with product recommendations and services. Speaking at Advertising Week in New York City Monday, Unilever CMO Keith Weed noted voice search will be "critical" for brands going forward.