Who would need to press the power button to actually turn off or restart the device, right?
The setting to change this is also pretty much buried under Settings -> Special Features -> Gestures.
(Yes, I have no idea why the Assistant is in German when the phone is set to English either 🫠)
For quite some time now, Apple and Samsung have had the shutdown menu behind a multi-button press (Lock + Vol +/-). In Apple’s case, it’s always required more than just the lock button.
If anything, this is Google shifting to the ‘norm’, having multiple button presses be the default is ideal in preventing accidentally invoking the menu and shutting down the device.
Far as “anti consumer” is concerned:
Relative to most consumers, this perspective has you in the minority. Your average consumer is going to engage with this feature, this change makes the feature as accessible as possible so that you can do something like send a text with a single hand / button press.
I have a first gen iPod Touch somewhere in a box here. It was press once to lock and turn off screen. Hold to get power menu.
Fucking hell, Samsung? I’m typing this on a Galaxy A52 5g. Same thing. Press power to turn off the screen and lock, press and hold for power menu. They did have press and hold for bixby about a year after I bought it, which I disabled, but it wasn’t out of box default.
I’ve never encountered this multi-button power shit you’re talking about outside of old click wheel iPods, or as the force shut down option (equivalent of ripping out the cord on a desktop PC, definitively not the normal/intended power off procedure).
Don’t know what you’ve been using, but this has not been some standard thing forever.