ASUS is apparently killing the ability to root present and future Zenfones
www.androidauthority.com
ASUS is reportedly telling customers they can no longer unlock the bootloader on their phones, including the Zenfone 9 and Zenfone 10.

Update from Asus

The service team reply misunderstood the situation. Unlock tool is unavailable at this moment but we are allowing the possibility to unlock, please stay tuned.

**TL;DR

  • ASUS has apparently withdrawn the ability to unlock the bootloader on its phones.
  • As per the company’s technical support team, Zenfone 10 and Zenfone 9 users won’t be able to root their phones.
    • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      11 months ago

      I think it more likely we’ll get to the point where getting a key to unlock the bootloader requires some kind of bullshit businesses license, or else is only possible on higher end phones. Kind of like how Windows is increasingly walling options off from everyone except Enterprise users.

      Or the end result of this eSIM shit comes to pass: unlocking the bootloader breaks the SIM and/or the carrier refuses to let it on the network.

      • lemmyvore@feddit.nlEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        But do carriers really have a horse in this race? SIMs are separately secured so all they care about is having as many in use as possible. Whatever game of cat and mouse manufacturers choose to play with the users is their business.

        I don’t think carriers will want the headache that comes with SIMs checking if they’re used on so-and-so devices, especially if it involves depending on a service they don’t control (like Google).

        • Stay Frosty@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          Yeah, carriers want as many user as they can on their network. So no valid reason to block a user if they root their phone.