What's the alternative? Should Safari choose a default search engine by random per user or per session? Google is undoubtedly the best search engine in nearly all cases. Should Apple subject its users to a weaker engine just because Google has a different privacy policy? You can also change the default search engine.
Why wouldn't Apple accept a payment for bringing billions of dollars in traffic to Google?
Why wouldn't Apple accept a payment for bringing billions of dollars in traffic to Google?