According to tipster Ice Universe, Samsung has disabled Odin, a proprietary firmware flashing tool typically used to install stock firmware, install custom ROMs, and restore devices. It also appears that Samsung has removed “Download Mode,” which acts as a gateway for Odin. This change appears to have been made in the latest One UI 8.5 firmware and currently affects the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and recently launched Galaxy S26 series.
On top of this is the fact that google is locking down the ability to install apps outside of the play store on standard ROMs.
If that happens my phone becomes useless for me, I have to either sell it or throw it away.
I went ahead and forked out my savings to buy a Fairphone with /e/os preinstalled just because of this. My big fear though is that some of my favorite FOSS apps will disappear because the developers abandon the platform. I hope that will not be the case.