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Phone brand that lets you fully unlock bootloader
(lemmy.today)
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this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2026
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Apologizes, I should have been clearer. I think you are totally right in that there with be a jump/boost at and right after the lockdown.
I think at this moment, there is the highest number of eligible devices (unlocked bootloader) and it will essentially only go down from there in the short to mid term.
After the lockdown boost to custom roms, I think the custom android ROM user numbers will drop. My thinking is based on new phones being locked from now on. I don't think it'll be all new phones after the new year, but I'd guess the majority and it'll be pretty rare to have an unlocked bootloader out of the box after the lockdown (with exceptions like Motorola and graphene, or Fairphone/similar).
I think you are definitely right about Linux being further behind in development and being able to be a daily driver. And accordingly most new switches from android in the near-term will go to custom android ROMs.
However, from my view, developers can choose between continuing to develop a custom ROM that's dependent on google and proprietary blobs that, to my understanding, they will always be dependent on and beholden to (who knows the next trick they'll pull to cripple custom ROMs). Or, they can work on development that doesn't have those dependences (Linux).
Due to the proprietary blobs and google, I think, Linux is more viable mid- and long-term.
is aosp planning on requiring the bootloader to not be unlockable? because otherwise i still disagree.
if more people are interested in custom roms, theres a motivation for the manufacturers to continuing to allow it. not to mention arm gaming handhelds and the like where people are going to want to install "steamos" once the steam frame drops and people see apple level arm>x86 compatibility. these devices typically currently ship with android
add the growing maturity of mobile linux to the mix... i just dont see why manufacturers will lock it down without being forced to. sure maybe "big tech" companies (samsung etc) will to keep users locked in, but a lot of the phone manufacturers wont have a big incentive. they are not beholdent to google. pc motherboard manufacturers never locked down the bios to keep people from installing linux, even though most people only ever used windows.
if custom roms see real growth, i could see smaller manufacturers shipping with aosp to avoid paying licensing to google, and expecting the user to flash it themselves. think vanilla waydroid install. no app store, just a browser to find apks. it just makes business sense to cut the costs if it isnt going to scare away the customers.
i mean where we stand today its really just the mobile providers that lock the phones down to lock the device to their service. the manufacturers themselves usually sell unlockable bootloaders. even my pixel devices were very easy to unlock because i bought them direct from google. (sidenote: i was shocked when the wife and i went to europe. i used saily and recomended it to her, and she was unable to use it because she has an att apple.)
it seems like we largely agree about most of all of this stuff. i'm just optimistic that google is properly shooting itself in the foot right now, not pulling some draconian move. hell even the hoops you have to jump throught to install random apks on stock android are more annoying than anything. follow a guide, click a bunch of buttons in the settings, wait a day. not much more tough than gaining developer mode already is except for the time delay. i think this will wake more people up to how shitty google is, and funnel them to alternatives. this makes a positive feedback loop and encourages manufacturers to cater to flashing.
Fair point about aosp, although given Samsung's recent change to lock the bootloader (oneUI 8.0) and Google's moves against side loading, I'm not optimistic about other manufactures not following suit and locking the bootloader.
I think most people are not going to jump through the hoops of installing a custom ROM and the increase of interest in custom roms is and will be too negligible to most large manufacturers. To this point, supposedly, Samsung sold more locked bootloader phones than the previous unlocked phones (Galaxy S26 v S25).
I can see the lockdown as beneficial to the companies, if they are getting something out of it (like telemetry) that they can make more money off of.
To your Windows/Linux point, I believe that Windows activates a option (fast-boot?) that screws up Linux instillations. So, while they may not have locked it down, they do hinder it. Plus Windows would probably receive major backlash from the server folks/companies, if they tried to lock the motherboard previously (as, to my knowledge, the vast majority of servers are running Linux).
Yeah, I could definitely see a small manufacturer provide a limited stock, ready for custom roms.
I'm not very familiar with the space, but locked bootloaders seem to be very location and service specific (I read somewhere all of Canada is locked down).
I think we mostly agree too. I think I'm definitely the more pessimistic of the two of us. My thinking is there are still millions of people still on twitter, even after it became infested by Nazis. In my view, most people are tired and have limited time for their own pursuits. I don't think they will spend their time jumping through additional hoops, unless they absolutely have to.
Does it matter where will I buy my Pixel phone from? Where did you buy yours? If I will buy any Google Pixel model, I want to be sure its bootloader can be unlocked and I won't get any "surprise" after the purchase.
I'm thinking about buying Google Pixel 5 or Google Pixel 7 Pro (or maybe better ones), because these models from what I've seen have the support for highest amount of custom ROMs and Google Pixel 5 supports TWRP.