It seems that the distribution of applications in APK has its days numbered, and it is that Google is going to begin to replace this format in favor of the new Android App Bundle standard that the company launched in 2018, and that in all this time they have implemented more of a million applications, including most of the thousand most popular applications.
Dom Elliott, Product Manager at Google Play, informs us through the blog for developers that the future of Android App Bundle is already here, announcing that APK will be replaced as standard post format.
New applications can no longer be distributed in APK
To drive the new standard for application delivery and for more users to benefit from its benefits, Google Play will require new applications to be released with the Android App Bundle from August 2021.
The advantage of Android App Bundle the thing is the size of the applications are reduced on average 15% compared to a universal APK, since when the user is going to download an application in Android App Bundle format, an APKM is generated with only the necessary resources for that mobile, such as the version optimized for its processor, its language and graphic resources adapted to the resolution of your screen, thus avoiding installing resources that the user will not use.
Only the new applications that arrive on the Play Store from August will have to be published in Android App Bundle. Currently existing app updates are exempt this change, but this could change in the future, since Google’s goal is for all developers to use the new standard for publishing applications.
Via | Google
In Engadget Android | Google explains the 16 reasons why apps and games should be published in the Android App Bundle format