By Waberi 
Custom ROMs for Pixel Phones Hit Hard by Google’s AOSP Shift
Google has announced a major shift in how it supports Android’s open-source platform. With Android 16, the company will no longer release device trees and driver binaries for Pixel phones — key components developers have relied on to build and maintain custom ROMs. In the past, Pixel phones served as AOSP reference devices, making it relatively easy for ROM developers to compile working versions of Android. But now, Google is moving away from Pixels in favor of Cuttlefish, a virtual Android device designed to be flexible, affordable, and hardware-independent.
A Blow to Custom ROMs Like LineageOS and GrapheneOS
This change marks a turning point for the custom ROM community. Without official binaries or device trees, developers are left to reverse-engineer proprietary components — a time-consuming and complex task. It also comes at a time when Google has stopped publishing real-time kernel source commit history, further complicating development. While fewer users rely on custom ROMs today, the decision still significantly impacts major projects like LineageOS and GrapheneOS. Despite Google confirming AOSP will continue to exist, its new direction may leave fewer doors open for deep Android customization on Pixel devices.