[bryanlarsen]

Android is not "given away for free". AOSP is, but that's pretty unusable / unsalable as is, outside of China. Google Play Services and the google apps cost real money, and include a license to the "Android" name and logo. A phone that just has AOSP cannot be called an Android phone.

[HillaryBriss]

interesting. so hardware manufacturers like Samsung are actually paying Google to put Google Play Services and various Google apps onto their phones? how much do they pay (is that a known value)?

[bryanlarsen]

The rumour I heard was $10.

The Oracle trial exposed Android revenue to the public. "Google's Android operating system has generated revenue of about $31 billion and profit of $22 billion since its release, an Oracle Corp lawyer told a U.S. court hearing the software company's copyright lawsuit against Google.Jan 21, 2016"

Some of that was from the Play Store and some from Ads, but it seems likely most of that was from licensing.