In the ongoing Epic v. Google lawsuit, it has been revealed that Samsung devices accounted for “half or more” of Google Play revenue in early 2019 highlighting how important Samsung is to Google’s app store business. This was revealed about during a testimony by James Kolotouros, Google’s Vice President for Partnerships and first reported by Bloomberg.
Google Play is the world’s largest app store, and it generates billions of dollars in revenue each year. The vast majority of this revenue comes from in-app purchases and subscriptions, and Samsung devices are clearly playing a major role in driving this revenue growth.
A 2019 Google internal presentation called Project Banyan that was presented during the trial by Epic’s attorney, Lauren Moskowitz, revealed that the initiative aimed to secure the position of the Google Play Store against competition, particularly from Samsung’s Galaxy App Store. The presentation raised the question of how to maintain Play as the primary distribution platform for Android.
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In 2019, Google proposed a $200 million payment over four years to Samsung, suggesting that Samsung’s Galaxy Store be available within the Google Play Store rather than preinstalled. This offer also required that Samsung refrain from introducing its own payment or billing system. However, the proposal was abandoned, and Google later entered into three separate deals with Samsung in 2020, amounting to $8 billion over four years.
Internal documents revealed that Google saved nearly $1 billion over four years by revising its request for Google Play to exclusively feature on a device’s home screen. Instead, the compromise allowed Google Play to be on the home screen alongside space for Samsung to include the Galaxy Store.
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