Apple has been expanding its search activities for years. Google absolutely has giving Apple an incentive not to compete as part of its aims
Why isn't Google paying Microsoft billions per quarter to stop Bing? Because Bing isn't a threat, and neither would Apple Search be. What is a threat is Apple making it hard for users on iOS to use Google Search. That's what the money is for, it's the rent they pay to have their little shop in the walled garden.
Could you expand on what you mean here?