US DOJ Seeks to Split Android and Chrome to End Google’s Monopoly

In August 2024, a US judge delivered a landmark judgment in the US vs Google antitrust trial, concluding that Google is a monopolist in the search engine market. During the trial, Apple’s senior VP of Services, Eddy Cue said, “[T]here’s no price that Microsoft could ever offer [Apple] to preload Bing.“

With Google now declared a monopoly, the next step is determining remedies. And the US Department of Justice is proposing the court to split Android and Chrome to decisively end Google’s monopolist practice. The DOJ has filed:

Fully remedying these harms requires not only ending Google’s control of distribution today, but also ensuring Google cannot control the distribution of tomorrow.

In the proposed remedy framework, the US Justice Department is “considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features—including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence —over rivals or new entrants.“

It’s clear that the US DOJ seeks to restructure Google Chrome from Android. The filing notes, “Google’s longstanding control of the Chrome browser, with its preinstalled Google search default, significantly narrows the available channels of distribution and thus disincentivizes the emergence of new competition.“

Google partners with many OEMs including Samsung and Apple to keep Google as the default search engine. In fact, in 2021, Google paid a whopping $26.3 billion to Apple and other companies to remain the default search engine on mobile devices and browsers.

Google Objects to “Radical and Sweeping Proposals”

As the DOJ filed its proposed framework on Tuesday night, Google shared a blog post today, calling the sanctions “radical” and “sweeping proposals risk hurting consumers, businesses, and developers.” Google further says that the demands go well beyond the legal scope of the court’s decision.

On splitting off Chrome and Android, Google says its investment in the ecosystem has helped in keeping the cost of phones low. As a result, billions of people can afford Android phones. Google warns:

Make no mistake: Breaking them off would change their business models, raise the cost of devices, and undermine Android and Google Play in their robust competition with Apple’s iPhone and App Store.

Apart from that, the search giant says preventing Google from integrating its AI services and features on Android and Chrome would hold back American innovation and progress. DOJ argues that deeply entrenching Google-related products into Android and Chrome, allows Google to maintain its monopoly position in the market.

What Does It Mean for Consumers?

While the DOJ’s intention is to promote competition, the proposed remedies may have negative consequences for end-consumers. For one, this could lead to higher prices for Android devices, especially in developing and under-developed countries.

Second, since Chrome and Android are deeply integrated, splitting them may result in a poor and disjointed user experience, which the end-consumers may not like. Not to mention, security and privacy issues may crop up as Google uses various signals from Google products to detect threats early on.

Finally, in the tech space, we have seen that regulatory interventions initially show some promise, but slowly, large companies again concentrate power. DOJ’s remedies may not have a long-lasting impact on the market. The US court will decide the remedies by August 2025 so we need to wait and see what the ultimate ruling will be.