Apple defends $20 bn Google search deal by claiming it’s unnecessary

Apple Inc. made an unusual pitch in its bid to save a lucrative search partnership with Alphabet Inc.’s Google, saying that the deal might not be necessary in the long run and that even the iPhone may fall out of use.

Eddy Cue, the company’s senior vice president of services, laid out the argument during testimony Wednesday at the US Justice Department’s antitrust trial against Google. Though Apple receives roughly $20 billion a year from the company — in return for making Google’s search engine the default option on devices — Cue warned that the whole landscape is shifting.