Google pays Apple more than $9 billion a year to be the default search engine on the iPhone. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook defended Apple's position for accepting billions of dollars from Google saying, “it is the best search engine for iOS users”

© Youtube

Google has been accused of a number of privacy issues such as storing location data even when users opted out. Google also shut down Google+ last month as over 500,000 accounts were breached. 

When asked about it, Cook told HBO, "I think their search engine is the best. Look at what we've done with the controls we've built in. We have private web browsing. We have an intelligent tracker prevention. What we've tried to do is come up with ways to help our users through their course of the day. It's not a perfect thing. I'd be the very first person to say that. But it goes a long way to helping.”

According to Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall, the payment for Google to remain the default search engine on iOS devices could be increased to $12 billion in 2019. 

Cook has previously commented negatively on companies like Facebook and Google that make most of their money from advertising based on user data. 

© Apple

“We shouldn't sugarcoat the consequences. This is surveillance. And these stockpiles of personal data serve only to enrich the companies that collect them," Cook said in his October 24 speech. "This should make us very uncomfortable. It should unsettle us.”

However, Apple has not stopped working with Google regardless of its strong stand about user privacy.  Apple has added controls to Safari that keep Google from tracking user data. "Look at what we've done with the controls we've built in," Cook said. "We have private web browsing. We have an intelligent tracker prevention. What we've tried to do is come up with ways to help our users through their course of the day.”

Source: CNBC