Basically the title
Early Android (circa 2009) didn’t have locked bootloaders.
Google wanted people to experiment, which was basically free research for them. Pixel’s today are unlocked when purchased from Google.
Even my earliest Verizon phones weren’t bootloader locked - they didn’t start doing that for a few years (my last Verizon phone in 2012 wasn’t bootloader locked). And Verizon is arguably the worst vendor when it comes to bootloader locked phones.
Google wanted people to experiment, which was basically free research for them.
locked bootloaders are still a thing mostly on the US.
over here having them locked is the exception, not the norm.
What? At least two years ago, all had locked bootloaders and half of the vendors wouldn’t let you unlock it. “Here” being central europe.
here in south america they don’t seem to be locking most of them.
granted, not all phones have an active developer porting an os to it.
