That is actually a fair point, but I assume out of the millions of lines of code, not all of them come from Google, right?

That would requiere convincing the copyright holders of those lines, or at least rewrite them. The latter I don't see it impossible, but it would take time.

Still, I will always rather a strong copyleft license...

They'll just do an Apple and publish the source to the bits they have to while keeping the bits they don't closed source making the os as a whole closed source.

That is probably a fraction of one percent of the pixel purchases.

So, basically what they're already starting to do?

Soooo, that means that android is fucked but custom roms should be able to continue from android 15, not?

I don't understand.

also I thought Apple builds upon BSD style licensed stuff, while Android is on Linux which is gpl?

Doesn't matter for a distribution, Apple historically also shipped some gpl tools like bash and Samba, they just provide the source for what they have to.

Maybe but those 1% of buyers are multiplicators incentivizing others to buy the same phone.

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Of course they are. They always did. The entire ecosystem is so closely tied to google services that it's almost impossible to use the phone without them (if you want to use banking and security apps). For now the only alternative is iOS and I'm starting to doubt if mobile Linux will ever become usable.

Yes, they incentivize another 0.001%. How is google going to survive this?

Tech geeks acting as multiplication factors are the people who brought Apple from obscurity to mainstream.

That was 40 years ago. Any more recent examples?

Yep. Thanks to this, I'm moving to IOS with a x64 handheld. I won't need a smartphone beyond calls and tethering so, why bother. Google can enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Which? Rn, a Steam Deck, but soon, something smaller and more palmable, still fishing for something good. I'd even take something pi-based.

Hard truth: With America going to shit, the EU needs a smartphone brand like...yesterday. Germans, get cooking!

iOS isn't any better. I'm looking to OnePlus and maybe LineageOS. Hopefully GrapheneOS isn't dead.

the EU needs a smartphone brand like…yesterday

• 

  We are Fairphone

  We make technology with a purpose—designed to last longer, perform better, and make a real impact. And we’ve been at it for more than a decade.

  

  Fairphone (www.fairphone.com)

• 

  Wir sind HMD, Hersteller von Android™-Smartphones und Feature Phones.

  Egal, ob du ein Handy mit einem starken Akku brauchst, eins mit großartigen Kameras oder eins, das du zu Hause reparieren kannst: Im HMD-Onlineshop findest du alles, was du brauchst.

  

  HMD - Human Mobile Devices (www.hmd.com)

• 

  The Privacy Respecting European OS and AI Solution Provider

  Jolla offers privacy-first OS and Edge AI solutions continuing the legacy of Nokia and MeeGo, driving mobile innovation into the human-centric AI era.

  

  The Privacy Respecting European OS and AI Solution Provider (jolla.com)

Germans, get cooking!

• https://www.gigaset.com/de_de/cms/smartphones-uebersicht.html

I don't agree with the other person but the closest example that I could find would be OnePlus. They had no physical shops, used word of mouth (influencers), had good marketing (flagship killer), and were relatively cheap. They quickly rose the ranks and became a mainstream brand.

How will Samsung/OnePlus use Android 17 and 18?

Lineage os and graphene os are both based on AOSP, no ? How to expect these projects to survive if AOSP becomes closed source ?

What worries me the most is the support for our phone. Constructor provides bad to average support for new android versions. Meanwhile, these projects can last for a long time. I have a one plus 7 pro and it is running on YAAP, receives OTA security updates every month and all the major versions of Android. Killing AOSP will lead to killing long term support of our phone.

Where, exactly, do you think the source code will go for aosp? It'll just get forked. See ZFS and openzfs, or Solaris, and illumos.