I think the other comments are wrong.
Custom elements are a part of the web platform <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.w3.org&#x2F;TR&#x2F;custom-elements&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.w3.org&#x2F;TR&#x2F;custom-elements&#x2F;</a><p>We use amp-img instead of the img tag to be able to control when resources load (read not load them unless actually needed). Doing this with a different hack like &lt;img data-src=&quot;foo&quot;&gt; is possible but a less explicit hack.<p>To your first point: It might have been just the right point in time, but maybe it isn&#x27;t. I argue that if adoption is good users will win. It could totally fail, but then it was still worth trying.<p>In case you haven&#x27;t tried, check out this video <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=i2_lAEzmOPo&amp;feature=youtu.be" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=i2_lAEzmOPo&amp;feature=youtu.be</a>
I so much want my experience to be like that (or try g.co&#x2F;ampdemo on your phone yourself).