[BLKNSLVR]

With the increasing difficulty (impossibility) of bootloader unlocking that most manufacturers are building into their Android devices, I wonder whether it's market reasons (the longer the devices are operational, the longer upgrade cycle) or pressure from intelligence agencies due to minimised Google / telemetry data back doors in custom ROMs.

Using the "simplest answer is often the best" approach, it would historically be the profit motivation at 99% probability. Currently, though, feels like surveillance and intelligence gathering is edging to the higher likelihood.

Edited to add: and maybe it's not even intelligence agencies, maybe it's purely profit driven from the personal-data-selling industry.

[alwayslikethis]

It would then be quite shocking to know that Google's Pixel phones consistently allowed unlocking without any nonsense like online verification. They also support relocking your bootloaders as well as using your own signing keys for secure boot.