Just because Google and Samsung’s business relationship is technically closer than the Mountain View-based search giant’s partnership with mobile OS-developing arch-rival Apple, that doesn’t mean the world’s number one smartphone vendor isn’t getting its fair share of licensing money.

In fact, a South Korean daily newspaper believes Samsung could be looking at a total payment of around 4 trillion won from Google this year alone in exchange for preinstalling the most popular search engine on increasingly successful Galaxy handsets.

That equates to a little over $3.5 billion, which is more than the estimated 2017 value of a similar arrangement between Google and Apple. But again, it makes sense, given that Samsung is the unchallenged global leader in smartphone volumes, likely generating more advertising revenue through web searches and mobile shopping than iPhones and iPads.

4 trillion won is coincidentally how much the chaebol’s mobile division made in operating profit during a record-breaking second quarter of the current year, although unlike Apple, Samsung’s financial reports don’t include a “services” section.

It’s worth highlighting that both today’s $3.5 billion and yesterday’s $3 billion figures are approximate calculations of deals negotiated behind closed doors and dependent on many factors, most importantly the actual ad earnings that are often impossible to forecast. But the bottom line is the search game generates great gains for all of the world’s top tech giants.