> Once the transition is complete and previous APK-based packages are fully deprecated, it’s easy to see a future Android release that no longer supports APK at

> Once the transition is complete and previous APK-based packages are fully deprecated, it’s easy to see a future Android release that no longer supports APK at all. At that point Android and Google Play will have caught up with iOS and the App Store in its ability to control what software users can install. I don't follow this argument and it seems to get some facts wrong. There is no sign that APKs are going to lose android support, AABs will be used to create dynamic smaller APKs that are customized to your device. The closest this comes is if Google stops updating tools to build your own APKs, which would seem to have a huge negative impact on the development and testing cycle... Google already could implement APK signing requirements to break the ability for non-rooted devices to install APKs not co-signed by google, they don't need AABs for that. There are significant security concerns with AABs regarding giving keys and APK checksum verification...but that's a different topic.