Following testing in December, Google is moving Play Store search to the bottom bar with a new tab.Instead of a search bar at the top of the screen when you’re viewing the “Games” and “Apps” feeds, Google Play is switching to a “Search” tab at the center of the bottom bar.
They could’ve so easily solved this by making it just immediately jump to the search bar on tap, or hide that feature behind a long press like some other apps do if they’re really wanting to push people towards trending searches. I appreciate that it’s within thumb’s reach now but this is a pretty lackluster implementation