Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

Re:Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is comin... by GuB-42 on Sunday January 25, 2026 @12:10PM (#46755851)

The biggest differentiator is price. An entry level Android phone is about $300 while an iPhone is in the $1000 range. And to be honest, anything more than an entry level Android is luxury these days. I say that because that's what I have and I have never felt held down, except maybe for pictures, but it is good enough for my (lack of) skills as a photographer.

So, Android may actually benefit from a lack of differentiation: like iOS, for a third of the price seems like a good value proposition.

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Re:Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is comin... by burnerthrow008 on Sunday January 25, 2026 @12:17PM (#46755919)

The iPhone 16e (came out less than 6 months ago) starts at $600 without carrier subsidy. That’s about half of what you claimed.

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Re:Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is comin... by GuB-42 on Monday January 26, 2026 @07:53AM (#46765049)

I wasn't referring to the absolute cheapest, more of a representative price.

If you want to go cheap, the Samsung Galaxy A17 5G, a perfectly fine, recent phone is $200, which is still a 1:3 price ratio to the $600 iPhone.

And you can go even cheaper than that, as in $150, new, though at that point, we are entering a territory where many people will feel the limitations.

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