So it's clear that Apple and Google keep carrier branding off of their devices. What are your thoughts on it? If the Pixel had branding, would it keep you from the phone?
Even recently with my ROGERS Samsung Galaxy S7 & edge I just DISABLE the carrier and bloat ware apps. If that's not possible I'll HIDE them using Nova Prime.
That makes sense, but I've just never gotten the point of it. No one is going to inspect the outside of my phone to see what carrier I use. And no one is going to see that big red splash screen at 5am when I boot my phone up every few days (since I generally leave it on). No one really cares what carrier I use. If they wanted to know, they'd just ask me.
Just give me my updates. Quickly! No one would care about carrier branding if they received timely updates, nor do I don't think most folks would even care about bloatware in exchange for a discount so long as one can disable the bloatware apps.