The disappearance of Android's "soul", why do people no longer like to flash their phones?

"Flashing" may not be unfamiliar to the majority of digital enthusiasts. It is not only a kind of exploration of digital, but also the love and interest of countless Android users. We know that the biggest difference between Android and iOS is openness. Although iOS is better than Android in terms of fluency, thanks to the openness of Android, third-party Android ROMs emerge in an endless stream and are loved by more people.

Take Xiaomi's "Born for Enthusiasts" and OnePlus' "Little Prince of Flashing" for example. They both grew rapidly based on the model of unlimited flashing. However, the flashing culture has gradually disappeared in recent years. Why is this?

First, the difficulty of third-party ROM development has increased. In recent years, Google has gradually tightened the source code of Android, dividing Android into the open source project AOSP and the closed source project GMS, and extracting more and more functions from AOSP and adding them to the closed source GMS. Therefore, there is a restriction on Huawei phones pre-installing GMS to suppress Huawei. Therefore, when developing code, third-party ROMs have to take on more functions, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of development.

Secondly, mobile phone manufacturers are increasingly restricting flashing to ensure after-sales service and brand image. For example, some manufacturers directly lock the bootloader from a technical perspective, preventing users from making changes to partitions such as Recovery and System, or even if there are no technical restrictions, they will cancel the quality assurance after flashing the phone. This requires those who want to flash their phones to carefully consider the risks and consequences of this operation.

Third, the mobile phone OS is getting better and better. It is not only fully functional, but also stable and does not crash. At the same time, the original ROM also has some unique localized services. For example, Huawei mobile phones can enjoy a lot of high-quality but copyright-restricted music online. If flashing affects some functions, it will be more trouble than gain. This goes against the original intention of flashing. If you can't experience better results, why spend extra money on it?

Fourth, people are becoming more and more dependent on their phones. They not only store work materials, especially for designers, who may store a lot of customer drawings and related contact information, but also many details of life are recorded by the phone, which is of commemorative significance to everyone. Once the phone is flashed, data transfer or loss will be faced, which is quite troublesome, so users are used to "being faithful to one phone". It is simpler and more convenient to directly transfer data after two years to a new phone with better performance.

Therefore, now no one likes flashing the phone anymore. The past glory is ultimately a passing moment in the process of technological development. The era of flashing the phone, which was once enjoyed by everyone, is gone forever. What do you think of this "flashing the phone" culture?