I've been reading about the new iPad and, under the privacy features, note that Apple is endorsing DuckDuckGo. Apple advises: "Safari also offers the option to set DuckDuckGo as your default search engine, allowing you to search the web without being tracked."

I can't speak for iOS, but Safari in MacOS has had that option for awhile.

Safari is essentially the identical app on MacOS and iOS and both platforms have for several years offered Google, Yahoo, Bing, and DuckDuckGo as search engine options. It is just that in iOS Safari's preferences are found in the Settings app and not in Safari per. se. I have used DuckDuckGo for several years as my default search engine in Safari. (If I want to search Google, I either use a VPN or the TOR browser.)

That's correct and I've been using DuckDuckGo for a while in both OS and iOS. I just thought it was interesting that Apple specifically endorsed it in their promotional literature - essentially thumbing their nose at Google.

It is consistent with Apple's attitude toward the customer's right to privacy.