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STORY: Apple’s lucrative relationship with Google could be at risk after a judge ruled that the search giant is operating an illegal monopoly.

The Alphabet-owned firm pays the iPhone-maker $20 billion per year to be the default search engine on the handsets.

That’s according to analysis by Morgan Stanley.

But analysts say avoiding antitrust penalties could require terminating the agreement.

Instead, users might be prompted to a choose a search engine.

It’s estimated ending the exclusivity deal could knock up to 6% off Apple’s profits, and leave it looking for new options.

One might be to offer alternatives like Microsoft’s Bing.

Another could be to develop a new search product, maybe powered by OpenAI.

Apple has already said it’s bringing the firm’s chatbot to its products.

But it’s also in talks to offer Google’s Gemini bot and other AI models - which analysts say is a sign it’s worried about doing more exclusive deals.

Apple’s search engine pact with Google runs until at least September 2026.

Legal experts say wrangling over the monopoly ruling could last just as long, and maybe go all the way to the Supreme Court.