Apple did implement content blockers to block ads. I do not see ads when I use Safari in iOS or macOS.
It is hard to imagine someone who went through the age of Flash-based ads not looking at all injected advertisements with a sense of utter scorn, though. The split between content provider and advertising marketplace otherwise seems to mean that both consider the end user to only be valued in terms of their eyeballs.
I suspect it is because for some people, the advertisements actually are on-point and represent things they might be interested in.
I still find direct advertisement arrangements - such as temporarily co-branding a gaming site with a launching game, having a podcast talk about sponsors' products - to be much more on point.
To be clear, Apple does have search and does sell advertising for it. https://searchads.apple.com
They also attempt to summarize information when you do a system-level or browser-bar search. When the search shows me the local weather or a flight status or gives me a summary and direct link to Wikipedia as I type, they are taking that engagement from Google.
What Apple hasn't shown interest in so far is being a general-purpose internet search engine.
0: https://luke.lol/search/ (hn comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29796924)
But, the revenue Apple get from the deal/trust with Google is better than MSFT or Yahoo ever got by competing with them. It's also easy, risk free and pure profit. So, the deal essentially ensures that Apple will not compete.
Apple now also have an interest in maintaining their (alleged) trust. It's now in both parties interest to maintain Google's dominance of the space. It's also in both their interest to have a large ad market. Competition is not necessarily head-2-head. If Apple couldn't make money by funneling user to Google, they might prefer to just suppress ads. I'm sure if they asked users, users would want that. "Phone with fewer ads, ad-related tracking, etc.) is a potential selling point.
IANAL, and more to the point, I dislike both legal framework around antitrust and the intellectual framework implied by much of it. There's just a lot more to monopoly than either take into account.
Such deals are, IMO, evidence that monopoly^ in general is to the detriment of competition, innovation, churn and other such positive market outcomes. I also think more monopoly is concerning on "free culture" grounds, it perculates to politics/government, etc. Lets leave those aside though.
Apple & Google themselves were only able to innovate and prosper because monopolies did not yet control the microcomputer or the web. App stores, OTOH...
*Meant broadly. Read, Trust, cartel oligopoly, monopsony, bigness...