The Play Store is the first and often the only port of call for downloading apps to Android smartphones. As new court documents show, this trump card could cost Google a lot. Smartphone users suffer because they have less options.

Android is free and open source, but controls access to all important Google services, including the Google Play Store, in its own unique way. Anyone who thinks that a US company can pay for it is wrong – quite the contrary. Sometimes Google even pays the makers of Android smartphones.

Preferential rights in Play Store: Google pays Android makers

As court documents now show, Google is paying Android makers a kind of “bribe” for using their devices. Deliver from Google Play Store only And do without the integration of the alternative App Store (source: golemThis so-called “Premier Device Program”, as Google calls it, has been going on since 2019. Except for alternative app stores, this program also determines that no other app may be authorized to install apps on the device concerned.

This should mean the default setting in the delivery state, in the settings users can also allow downloads from alternative sources (eg browsers).

If the manufacturers follow it, they will get a Google search revenue shareThe device is made from. Then it increases from 8 to 12 percent. Manufacturers are said to have received income from Play Store purchases, for example between 3 and 6 percent from LG or Motorola.

in this Video We present several innovations in Android 12:

Smartphone users are worried

Such methods are used by Google to ensure the supremacy of Play Store on Android smartphones. Most of the major producers are said to have attended the event till May 2020. One One major exception is Samsung, Those who have also preinstalled their Galaxy Store on their devices for a long time.

In addition to providers of alternative app stores that do this less likely to spreadSmartphone users are worried. Thanks to Google’s practice, you have significantly fewer options in the App Store.