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ASUS is apparently killing the ability to root present and future Zenfones
(www.androidauthority.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
The end of an era. Companies also locked the bootloader back then and you'll need to find a vulnerability to exploit in order to unlock it. When custom roms starting to become popular, companies relaxed their stance and allowing their customers to unlock the bootloader using an official channel instead of utilizing a security exploits, perhaps as a competitive advantage so power users would recommend them to their friends and family. Now with declining popularity of rooting and custom roms, companies are starting to stop allowing their customers to unlock the bootloader again. From their perspective, allowing bootloader unlocking is nothing but trouble (support-wise) and might even cannibalize sales (why upgrade your phone every two years when you can a custom ROM with the latest version of Android), so declining popularity of custom ROMs is a perfect excuse for them to stop allowing bootloader unlocking.
Once digital media got away with "actually we are just letting you borrow it and can take it away whenever we want", hardware manufacturers have been drooling to do the same. Apple and game console manufacturers are most of the way there already.
Well it sure is a good thing they are making everything smart nowadays….
But seriously I can’t believe how fast the car industry locked previously free features behind a subscription