EDIT: We’ve received additional information that confirms that this mandate is now a part of the Google Mobile Services agreement for new Android phones. This logo placement has its own separate set of guidelines from Google, and must be present in order for manufacturers to gain access to the Google Play Store on new devices.

HTC and Samsung have something new popping up on their smartphones every time you boot them up, and apparently the feature was mandated by Google.

Android is not a household brand. Google is but, despite having a significant portion of the global marketshare, their smartphone OS is not. And as long as hardware manufacturers are allowed to design their own user interfaces for Android, it’s going to be very difficult for the average consumer to look at a Nexus 5, an HTC One M8, and a Samsung Galaxy S5 and know that they are all running the exact same operating system. Google is hoping to change that, and one method the company has started to use is mandating that the phrase “Powered by Android” be present during the boot animation on new phones.

Fire up a new HTC One M8 or a Samsung Galaxy S5 and you’ll see the phrase prominently displayed beneath the logo for the company. More than just text, HTC and Samsung are both using the classic Android logo that was originally used as the boot animation on the original Android phone, the HTC G1.

It’s unclear if this branding is part of the Google Play Services agreement that mandates default positioning and availability of Google Apps on these phones, or how long this mandate will remain in place, but this is something that will apply to all Android phones with access to the Google Play Store in the foreseeable future.

It’s a relatively small gesture compared to engineering a situation wherein an entire media store is removed from a line of phones, but the rules remain the same. If you want to play in Google’s sandbox, you do what the company tells you to do.