After telling a federal court that Google’s contracts blocked its path to distribution, AI search startup Perplexity has struck a global deal of its own.
Starting today, Perplexity’s app will come preinstalled on all new Motorola smartphones globally, with direct access to search and assistant features—plus a three-month Pro subscription.
“This is one of our first and most comprehensive integrations with a mobile phone brand, designed to provide a seamless search and assistant experience directly within Motorola’s ecosystem,” Perplexity said in a blog post.
The announcement follows high-profile testimony from Perplexity’s chief business officer Dmitry Shevelenko at a federal remedies hearing in the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google. Shevelenko told the court that Google’s exclusive distribution agreements with phone makers and wireless carriers had effectively shut out rivals, calling the contracts “a gun to your head” for companies reliant on Google’s revenue-share incentives.
The startup had approached several unnamed phone manufacturers, including Motorola, in hopes of striking a deal to make its AI search the default option on U.S. devices. But Shevelenko said those talks went nowhere, as partners were unwilling to jeopardize their existing revenue-sharing arrangements with Google.
With Motorola, Perplexity’s app won’t be the default assistant on the phone—despite mutual interest—because of contractual restrictions with Google, Shevelenko told presiding Judge Amit Mehta. “Motorola can’t get out of their Google obligations, and so they’re unable to change the default assistant on the device,” he said, per Bloomberg.