Software arriving on a new phone often resists removal. The reason lies in where those applications are stored and who controls the system image they belong to.
The system partition is not user territory
Applications installed by the user live in writable storage. Applications shipped with the device live in a partition mounted read-only during normal operation.
Removing a file from that partition would require write access that the operating system deliberately withholds, because the partition's integrity is part of the security model.
Verified boot enforces this by checking the partition against a signature. A modified system image fails that check and the device refuses to start normally.
Disabling is the mechanism that remains
The operating system offers a middle option: mark the application inactive so it does not run, appear or receive updates, while its files stay in place.
Storage is therefore not recovered, but background activity, notifications and network use are stopped, which addresses most of what users object to.
Some components resist even this, because other system functions declare a dependency on them and disabling would break those functions.
Preloads are a commercial arrangement
Placement on a device is sold. A carrier or manufacturer receives payment or revenue share for including an application, and that agreement often specifies prominence and persistence.
The economics matter most at lower price points, where preload revenue offsets a thin hardware margin and lets the device be sold cheaply.
This is why the same model can carry different software depending on which carrier sold it, and why unlocked versions typically carry less.
Updates can reinstate what was removed
A system update replaces the whole system image, so components disabled through the user interface can return enabled after a major upgrade.
Carrier configuration updates behave similarly, arriving separately from the operating system and able to add or re-enable operator applications.
Users often interpret this as a reversal of their settings. It is more accurately the new image reasserting the defaults it shipped with.
Managed devices show what full control looks like
Enterprise enrollment lets an administrator suppress preloads at provisioning, because device management operates above the user-facing settings.
That capability demonstrates the removal is technically possible, and that its absence for consumers is a policy decision rather than a limitation.
The narrowest consumer equivalent is choosing where the device is bought. Purchase channel determines the system image, and the image determines what can be removed.