The collaboration between Samsung and Google’s chatbot raises questions for EU antitrust authorities, who are collecting information to determine whether this collaboration leads to unfair competition.

EU antitrust authorities want to find out whether the collaboration with Google and Samsung to integrate Google’s Gemini Nano into the Samsung S24 series could lead to unfair competition. More specifically, the European Commission wants to find out whether this multi-year contract hinders competing chatbots on Samsung smartphones, Reuters reports based on an EU document. This information could be a springboard for the antitrust authorities to file a lawsuit against the companies.

Unfair competition

Samsung and Google struck a chatbot deal earlier this year that would see Samsung integrate Google’s Gemini Nano into the Samsung Galaxy S24 series of smartphones. That deal caught the attention of EU antitrust regulators, who are questioning the collaboration.

Antitrust authorities have created an eight-page questionnaire to gather industry input and better understand the impact of this deal. For example, the questionnaire asked whether pre-installing Gemini Nano via the device or the cloud limits the number of generative AI systems that can be pre-installed on the same device. In addition, respondents are also asked whether they have tried to make deals with manufacturers to pre-install their chatbots and what the reasons for refusal were.

Respondents have this week to answer the questionnaire. Based on this information, regulators will consider whether an antitrust investigation into Google and Samsung is relevant.