It's called Siri and Spotlight :)

For example, see Safari Suggestions - https://imgur.com/a/uyd20c6

That would be true if Siri and Spotlight were the main entry-point for users to start a web search, and I doubt that.

It’s already a common user behavior to type your query right into the address bar, and that’s where this is in Safari. Spotlight is just the (confusing imo) branding

> Spotlight is just the (confusing imo) branding

Wait, isn't Spotlight the name for Apple's local search (and maybe it's now used for whatever kind of unified search iOS likes to do?), whereas Safari's feature of treating things entered into the address bar that don't look like URLs as search queries is just a common redirection feature (analogous to the Firefox Awesomebar/Omnibar/whatever it's called now) that has nothing in particular to do with Spotlight?

For many Safari users, it is the the main entry-point for searches.

Doesn't your screenshot show that these Safari Suggestions are powered by Google?

Search in general is _hard._ But vertical specific searches & use cases can be tackled by different apps.

I would argue that my pushing for more prolific relationships with developers, you sort of chip away at this competitive threat with more specific, vertical-oriented searching experiences.

Example: I'm searching for restaurants nearby, I _could_ open Google, or I could leverage the Yelp/OpenTables of the app store.

Same thing for travel - flights, hotels, etc. all have apps that could, in theory, better serve the user than the catch-all "Google Search" app.

Maps is a slightly different beast; it's almost as ubiquitous as the "Phone" app itself .

There are other big search engines beyond Google. And currently Google pays Apple quite a bit of money to stay the main search engine on Safari.

But I would be very suprised, if Apple had not a team working on search algorithms, so they could start a search engine of their own, if the need is there.

Apple wouldn't do search to go head on with Google. Apple's search would be very specific to the domains that it cares about businesses for Maps, music, movies, etc.

And yet, any search on Apple devices is super weak

Siri search works well enough within the domains that it does directly -- restaurants (integrated with Yelp), locations, movies, movies, tv shows, sports, etc.

Anything it can't do directly it punts to Bing.