The GDPR conversation is hilarious. Sure they’re a US based company, but after 5 years of operation I would’ve expected them to have consulted a lawyer about this at some point. Forgetting (assuming it’s not “forgetting”) about the required documentation is not the worst thing in the world morally but it doesn’t exactly make them look competent either.

While unfortunate, not shipping these standard Google apps is not really an option for any Android manufacturer due to Google requirements. Including them is required if you want to use anything from the GSM, which includes things like the Play Store and everything it touches. You can technically ship a different Android distribution like Lineage or /e/, but that’s not really what most people will be expecting of an “Android” phone and will narrow the viable target demographic even more than the value proposition already does.