Glock has caught up to a feature the Walther PDP has had for 2+ years, and Sig has had with the P250 and P320 for well over a decade - that is - swappable modular components!
When Glock released the model 47 people instantly recognized the utility, and how you could essentially have 4 guns for the price of two if you possessed a Glock 19 of the appropriate generation, as the 47 has a G17 length slide that utilizes a Glock 19 locking block. So your 47 and 19 can become a 19L and a 45 by swapping slides - giving you a long slide G19, the mulletoid G45, a regular 19, and a regular full size G47.
So Glock, realizing people have been doing this nonsense all along (and for decades prior, thanks to the after market), made Glock fanbois cream themselves again and released a 19L, but under the moniker 49. Literally just the G47 slide on a G19 frame.
They now need to redesign a 34 length slide to use the G19 / 26 / 45 / 47 / 49 locking block. That would allow more modularity (and yes, I would actually dig a 34 slide on a 19 frame) but a step further - Glock could end legacy support to the civilian market for older generations of guns. They may have to get the gov't to adopt the Gen 5 (or 6) as an NSN item (I think the units using Glocks right now are mostly still using gen 3's - that'd be my guess why Glock still makes them) and they could stop producing non-MOS slides as well, streamlining all the processes. Running one locking block that fits all double stack frames could save them a good chunk of change through not having to stock different parts for a handful of models.
Maybe on the 6th gen guns, they'll recontour the back strap and offer more back straps that can replicate the "original" glock with the hump, while a bare gun would be more like a Polymer 80 straighter backstrap, since Glock Hump is something most modders and clones want to eliminate. They could offer different texture packs for the backstraps as well - or make those available thru Glock's online store so if someone wants grippier or smoother inserts, they can just buy them instead of having a gun / backstraps stippled. If they could figure out a solution like HK's interchangeable grips - with swappable side panels (and maybe front strap) that could be interesting too. They could eat up a lot of the accessory market with a few changes like that, or like including a decent magwell with the gun (polymer mag wells would be cheap to make) and throw in some mag extensions as well. More cheap plastic that won't raise their wholesale costs a lot, but capture market because of added value.
