In #38464 we changed it to require a call to WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized before your runApp if you want to access method channels. Unfortunately, this means that the native splash screen gets taken down too early and a black screen is shown. Repro-case:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'dart:async';

void main() {
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();
  Timer(Duration(seconds: 10), () {
    runApp(Placeholder());
  });
}

(Instead of running a timer, a real app may wait for data from the native side before calling runApp).