Google's "Century Anti-Monopoly Case" has begun, and the era of Apple effortlessly making money may be gone forever.

The "Century Antitrust Case" not only poses the biggest threat to Google, the search engine giant in the past 25 years, but also may mark the end of the era where another Silicon Valley giant, Apple, easily profits from the Google agreement.

In the Google search monopoly case that began nearly a month ago, the US Department of Justice accused Google of spending over $10 billion a year and signing exclusive agreements with companies like Apple to maintain its position as the default search engine on the internet and mobile devices.

Among the multiple accusations against Google by the Department of Justice, the cooperation between Google and Apple is a key point of contention. During the trial of the Google monopoly case last month, Kenneth Dintzer, a lawyer for the Department of Justice, pointed out that Google had refused Apple's proposal to change the agreement and threatened to cancel the revenue-sharing terms for advertisements, calling it the behavior of a monopolist.

So far, neither Google nor Apple has publicly disclosed how much revenue Apple generates from the agreement to use Google search.

Last week, when testifying during the trial of the Google case, the CEO of Microsoft, a long-time rival of Google in search, referred to the cooperation agreement between Apple and Google as a "vicious cycle," believing that it hinders potential competitors of Google, including Microsoft's own search engine Bing. Nadella stated that Microsoft has been trying for years to reach an agreement with Apple to make Bing the default engine on devices such as the iPhone.

Wall Street Journal previously mentioned that the closing arguments and final judgment of the Google case are expected to be announced next year. Some media recently commented that the trial of this case will take a long time and may remain unresolved for an extended period due to Google's appeal. However, for Apple, the timing of the Google antitrust case is not ideal.

On the one hand, facing challenges such as Huawei's return to the 5G market, the sales of new iPhones and the prospects for sales in China are uncertain. On the other hand, the Google case raises doubts about whether the long-term search engine agreement between Google and Apple can continue.

The agreement between Google and Apple was signed nearly 20 years ago in 2005, at the beginning of Google's establishment. The agreement designated Google as Apple's default search engine, and Apple would receive 50% of the advertising revenue generated from Google searches on the Safari browser.

Since then, Google has been paying Apple billions of dollars each year to maintain its position as the default search engine on Safari, benefiting both tech giants. In 2016, Apple and Google expanded the scope of the agreement to include other Apple features such as Siri and Spotlight, further solidifying their cooperation.

Previously, it was reported that the specific amount of revenue Apple obtained from setting Google as the default search engine was confidential. The US Department of Justice estimated that Apple could earn between $4 billion and $7 billion annually from this arrangement.

According to an analyst report by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Apple's revenue from such partnerships is estimated to reach $18 billion in 2022. And Google has always benefited from Apple's position in the mobile internet, occupying 90% of the entire search market.

According to a report released last week by Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan, the Google search engine agreement could generate revenue ranging from $16 billion to $17 billion within a year. This is roughly equivalent to 20% of Apple's projected revenue from its services business for the fiscal year ending in September.

The search engine remains Google's largest source of revenue to date. In 2022, search advertising accounted for nearly 60% of the company's revenue, reaching $162.45 billion. Based on the estimates of Goldman Sachs and Sanford C. Bernstein, Apple's revenue from the Google search agreement last year accounted for about 10% of Google's annual search revenue.

According to estimates by Morgan Stanley analysts, if Apple were to lose this portion of revenue from the Google agreement, its earnings per share (EPS) for the fiscal year 2025 would decrease by approximately 15%. If the loss is limited to the United States, EPS would decrease by about 10%.