You can't change one part of history and everything else remains the same: In the early days the single and only reason Android had any hope at all was that it

You can't change one part of history and everything else remains the same: In the early days the single and only reason Android had any hope at all was that it was the concerted push of a dozen+ once major manufacturers in the face of what was an obvious oncoming Apple hegemony. Google could be the fair player that brought them together precisely because they weren't in hardware, and offered the data side that the others didn't have. And even then Android went through a two year or so period where it was incredibly perilous, and is surprising it didn't perish. Had Samsung bought Android it would have been a footnote in history. If I had to guess we'd be looking at a 90s-Microsoft-like dominance of smartphones by Apple.