Apple could cost Google about $15 billion a year with a little vertical integration: buying search engine DuckDuckGo and making it the default search engine on iOS and Mac.
That would put at risk $7-8 billion in Apple revenue, however.
“Google is clearly the dominant force in search today,” Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi says, according to a Barron’s story. “Apple may be in a stronger position than at first glance, given it controls the keys to the kingdom on who can monetize iOS search. However, it remains uncomfortably dependent on Bing to act as a counterweight to Google—hence our suggestion that Apple acquire its own search engine.”