Is that some kind of labubu?

That tracks

Hey, that makes total sense. And thanks for filling in what I missed! Really too bad about those changes, too. Google set out to create an open mobile ecosystem in opposition to Apple (and, at the time, and to a lesser extent, M$oft). It was such an incredible success at the start. Lately though, it seems they want to run in the opposite direction by tightening their grip - not the best thing for the community of Android users at all.

Of course, the minority group of nerdy, early adopting users who are a dedicated bunch will bear the brunt of it (as always). It’s no surprise they’ll be facing backlash from those groups, which in part explains the surges in demand for better (yet somewhat adjacent) alternatives. I was all in when Google said “don’t be evil”. Now they seem to have abandoned that ethos. I’m still stuck in their ecosystem, have started looking for the exits and I’m definitely not alone in feeling that way.

Wouldn’t that be more of an inside job?

For fun and profit

There’s a reason pixels are preferred, it’s not some kind of malicious conspiracy. The most common sense reason being that there’s a lot of overlap and cross-pollination of devs in the android world. between Google and graphene os in particular.

Pixels are also targeted because it’s a mass-produced flagship with decent specs that is the closest thing to being already rooted off the shelf. It’s the path of least resistance. Plus the used market is robust. A used carrier unlocked pixel 1 or 2 models behind the latest one can be obtained for several hundred dollars cheaper than it originally retailed for.

It takes effort to support additional brands/models.

Most brands lock their bootloaders and make “owning” the device difficult.