Like most other popular Android launchers, Pixel Launcher also features a universal search feature that allows you to search within your phone's settings, apps, contacts, and online search results, all in one convenient place. The recently released Android 14QPR2Beta3 has a new version of the launcher and a rather interesting hidden settings menu called "Search Engine".
Its description is very clear and concise - "Select apps for searching the web. This will affect searches and content on the home screen."
This is just speculation at the moment, but it seems that Pixel devices will soon be able to switch the system-level search engine from Google to other search engines such as Bing or DuckDuckGo.
This information was provided by @Nail_Sadykov on Twitter, who is a well-known tipster in this field. Apparently, users found similar "search engine choice" flags in their browsers, along with textual descriptions, and setting these flags affects the "first run" experience that gives users a choice of search engines.
This has brought about a lot of speculation about Google's response to regulatory policies. It is worth noting that Google is currently involved in a major antitrust case and was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys general of eight states. The U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys general of eight states sued Google, accusing Google of monopolizing 90% to 95% of the search engine market and blocking almost all ways for consumers to find other search engines. Consider that the search giant is still paying Apple $10 billion a year to keep Google as the default in iOS, and you can see why.
This new move by Google may be related to growing legal pressure. Furthermore, given that the battle for the Play Store continues, we have to wonder if this is the final push for Google's supposed "monopoly."