I will actually put the most important point in the title since I will tell you right now that Apple has NOT officially announced a new search engine. It is a rumor for now but, to be fair, a rumor with some basis for existing in the first place.
This basis mainly comes from Apple’s new iOS 14 program which allows iPhone users to search topics that they choose themselves that also can be displayed on the screen without a third-party search engine (i.e. Google) Quite an interesting feature that could possibly lay the groundwork for Apple to release a new search engine.
A Financial Times report (subscription required for full report) claims Apple has been further motived to ramp up activity in releasing the search engine is Google’s recent antitrust lawsuit. This is clearly speculation but a good point as far as timing for release goes.
More food for thought against Apple releasing a search engine comes from this article on using keyword traffic data that shows why Apple is not releasing a new search engine from a new perspective.
What it most likely seems is that it’s not a search engine but instead Apple is working on trying to improve AI and it’s Siri technology.
Of course, if Apple actually does release a search engine it would be quite interesting to see how it competes with Google’s and probably do wonders for Apple’s stock price.