Many hardware companies have the same problem, they can output some decent hardware, but some other series are true lemons (especially for Linux/Unix, but for a lesser extent, for that other system as well). And beforehand, it's not always easy to know which is which. It's a common issue with laptop makers where the hardware is often more esoteric.
So new, as in, it has been available forever, just not on google phones. But every other manufacturer has done it at one point or another in the last ten years if not more.
Interestingly, this also applies to many other things, such as so called "two way walls".