Apple AI Chief Posits New Private Browser Search at Google Trial

John Giannandrea, a former top Google executive who decamped to Apple Inc. to head its artificial intelligence business, pointed out a quiet change in the latest iPhone software update that allows users to select a search engine other than Google’s when browsing the internet in private mode.

The iOS 17, released Monday, added “a second setting, so you could choose two different” search engines, Giannandrea said in testimony in federal court in Washington as part of the Justice Department’s antitrust suit against Alphabet Inc.’s Google.

The change means iPhone users can more easily switch between Google and a ...