In a move that places the health of the broader Android ecosystem above individual developer convenience, Google has announced that by February 2027, all apps on the Play Store must meet strict memory consumption standards — or be removed. The policy responds to a quiet but pervasive tension: as RAM grows more expensive and devices more varied, bloated applications have become a tax paid disproportionately by users with modest hardware. Google is not merely nudging developers toward efficiency; it is making optimization a condition of participation.