I don't see Google giving away phones for free. This would be seen as anti-competitive and unfair by their partners and they would drop android and seek alterna

I don't see Google giving away phones for free. This would be seen as anti-competitive and unfair by their partners and they would drop android and seek alternatives like windows phone. Google wants a world where Android runs on different handsets by different manufacturers. This is part of why the Android ecosystem is so resilient. Failure of one manufacturer is not going to destroy the Android operating system as there would be other companies to pick up the slack. Google cannot afford to fight the mobile wars on its with strong enemies in Apple and Microsoft who would love to see Android die.