Duplicate Splash Screen Issue on Google Play Console Pre-Launch Report

Question

A few days ago, I sought help regarding this inexplicable phenomenon, but I may have had difficulties in describing the problem. For some time now, I've been receiving the following warning in the Pre-Launch Console:

Since I don't have any SplashScreen API or Activity, it was incomprehensible to me. Now, I've created a completely new, empty project, with and without the SplashScreen API, yet I still receive the warnings. Who is familiar with this issue and can assist me in finding a solution? I'm eager to publish my app as smoothly as possible.

package ro.li.test.myapplication;

import android.os.Bundle;
import androidx.activity.EdgeToEdge;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import androidx.core.graphics.Insets;
import androidx.core.splashscreen.SplashScreen;
import androidx.core.view.ViewCompat;
import androidx.core.view.WindowInsetsCompat;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {



    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        // the warning comes always with and without this line
        SplashScreen.installSplashScreen(this);

        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        simulateLoadingDelay();
        EdgeToEdge.enable(this);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        ViewCompat.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener(findViewById(R.id.main), (v, insets) -> {
            Insets systemBars = insets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.systemBars());
            v.setPadding(systemBars.left, systemBars.top, systemBars.right, systemBars.bottom);
            return insets;
        });
    }


    private void simulateLoadingDelay() {

        try {
            Thread.sleep(3000);
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

splash.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>

    <style name="Theme.App.Starting" parent="Theme.SplashScreen">
        <!-- Set the splash screen background to black -->
        <item name="windowSplashScreenBackground">@android:color/white</item>
        <!-- Use windowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon to add a drawable or an animated
             drawable. -->
        <item name="windowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon">@drawable/face_animation_avd</item>
        <!-- Set the theme of the Activity that follows your splash screen. -->
        <item name="postSplashScreenTheme">@style/Base.Theme.MyApplication</item>

    </style>
</resources>

manifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:dataExtractionRules="@xml/data_extraction_rules"
        android:fullBackupContent="@xml/backup_rules"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.App.Starting"
        tools:targetApi="31">

        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:exported="true">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

I tried to implement everything as can be found here: https://github.com/AnandSuthar99/SplashScreenApiDemo

Here is a similar problem, also without a solution so far: https://github.com/zoontek/react-native-bootsplash/issues/496

The official instructions didn't help me either: https://developer.android.com/develop/ui/views/launch/splash-screen/migrate