diff --git a/android/apex.go b/android/apex.go
index cf1bcfef4..b127f7410 100644
--- a/android/apex.go
+++ b/android/apex.go
@@ -113,9 +113,6 @@ func (i ApexInfo) mergedName(ctx PathContext) string {
 	for _, sdk := range i.RequiredSdks {
 		name += "_" + sdk.Name + "_" + sdk.Version
 	}
-	if i.UsePlatformApis {
-		name += "_private"
-	}
 	return name
 }
 
@@ -546,10 +543,9 @@ func mergeApexVariations(ctx PathContext, apexInfos []ApexInfo) (merged []ApexIn
 			merged[index].InApexModules = append(merged[index].InApexModules, apexInfo.InApexModules...)
 			merged[index].ApexContents = append(merged[index].ApexContents, apexInfo.ApexContents...)
 			merged[index].Updatable = merged[index].Updatable || apexInfo.Updatable
-			if merged[index].UsePlatformApis != apexInfo.UsePlatformApis {
-				panic(fmt.Errorf("variants having different UsePlatformApis can't be merged"))
-			}
-			merged[index].UsePlatformApis = apexInfo.UsePlatformApis
+			// Platform APIs is allowed for this module only when all APEXes containing
+			// the module are with `use_platform_apis: true`.
+			merged[index].UsePlatformApis = merged[index].UsePlatformApis && apexInfo.UsePlatformApis
 		} else {
 			seen[mergedName] = len(merged)
 			apexInfo.ApexVariationName = mergedName
diff --git a/android/apex_test.go b/android/apex_test.go
index 60a639b4b..1e2f3bde4 100644
--- a/android/apex_test.go
+++ b/android/apex_test.go
@@ -118,17 +118,30 @@ func Test_mergeApexVariations(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 		{
-			name: "don't merge different UsePlatformApis",
+			name: "merge different UsePlatformApis but don't allow using platform api",
 			in: []ApexInfo{
 				{"foo", FutureApiLevel, false, false, nil, []string{"foo"}, []string{"foo"}, nil, NotForPrebuiltApex},
 				{"bar", FutureApiLevel, false, true, nil, []string{"bar"}, []string{"bar"}, nil, NotForPrebuiltApex},
 			},
 			wantMerged: []ApexInfo{
-				{"apex10000_private", FutureApiLevel, false, true, nil, []string{"bar"}, []string{"bar"}, nil, NotForPrebuiltApex},
-				{"apex10000", FutureApiLevel, false, false, nil, []string{"foo"}, []string{"foo"}, nil, NotForPrebuiltApex},
+				{"apex10000", FutureApiLevel, false, false, nil, []string{"bar", "foo"}, []string{"bar", "foo"}, nil, NotForPrebuiltApex},
 			},
 			wantAliases: [][2]string{
-				{"bar", "apex10000_private"},
+				{"bar", "apex10000"},
+				{"foo", "apex10000"},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "merge same UsePlatformApis and allow using platform api",
+			in: []ApexInfo{
+				{"foo", FutureApiLevel, false, true, nil, []string{"foo"}, []string{"foo"}, nil, NotForPrebuiltApex},
+				{"bar", FutureApiLevel, false, true, nil, []string{"bar"}, []string{"bar"}, nil, NotForPrebuiltApex},
+			},
+			wantMerged: []ApexInfo{
+				{"apex10000", FutureApiLevel, false, true, nil, []string{"bar", "foo"}, []string{"bar", "foo"}, nil, NotForPrebuiltApex},
+			},
+			wantAliases: [][2]string{
+				{"bar", "apex10000"},
 				{"foo", "apex10000"},
 			},
 		},
diff --git a/apex/apex_test.go b/apex/apex_test.go
index cfffc1413..77cbb58c3 100644
--- a/apex/apex_test.go
+++ b/apex/apex_test.go
@@ -1036,10 +1036,10 @@ func TestApexCanUsePrivateApis(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Ensure that we are using non-stub variants of mylib2 and libfoo.shared_from_rust (because
 	// of the platform_apis: true)
-	mylibLdFlags := ctx.ModuleForTests("mylib", "android_arm64_armv8-a_shared_apex10000_private").Rule("ld").Args["libFlags"]
+	mylibLdFlags := ctx.ModuleForTests("mylib", "android_arm64_armv8-a_shared_apex10000").Rule("ld").Args["libFlags"]
 	ensureNotContains(t, mylibLdFlags, "mylib2/android_arm64_armv8-a_shared_current/mylib2.so")
 	ensureContains(t, mylibLdFlags, "mylib2/android_arm64_armv8-a_shared/mylib2.so")
-	rustDeps := ctx.ModuleForTests("foo.rust", "android_arm64_armv8-a_apex10000_private").Rule("rustc").Args["linkFlags"]
+	rustDeps := ctx.ModuleForTests("foo.rust", "android_arm64_armv8-a_apex10000").Rule("rustc").Args["linkFlags"]
 	ensureNotContains(t, rustDeps, "libfoo.shared_from_rust/android_arm64_armv8-a_shared_current/libfoo.shared_from_rust.so")
 	ensureContains(t, rustDeps, "libfoo.shared_from_rust/android_arm64_armv8-a_shared/libfoo.shared_from_rust.so")
 }