I guess this is the last Google phone I ever buy then. I don't even sideload many apps, I just think it's immoral. To be fair to Google, it did erase "don't be evil" from its motto.
The article doesn't say that sideloading will stop working, it's just that Play Store will completely switch to the format. This has to do more with the exponentially growing storage req of apps more than anything. Average user is gonna benefit a lot, especially since Bundles have a 150MB upper limit.
Android cannot afford being a walled garden like Apple and I don't see them limiting installations. As long as they get users into putting data into Google services, they'll let both OEMs and users customize anything in the platform.
This is not good. It means aurora store will probably break and it'll be necessary to log in with a Google account into the play store :(
I install all my apps with aurora to cut down on data collected about me by Google. I don't log in with a Google account at all.
For F-droid it's a lesser problem because they require open source software anyway and make reproducible builds to APK themselves. The problem is just that it's really hard to live with only F-droid apps :(
More details in [0].
[0] https://www.slashgear.com/android-app-bundles-are-replacing-...