I read it the exact opposite way. Google sees the writing on the wall that this is coming sooner rather than later to the US so with a “bit” more work they can

I read it the exact opposite way. Google sees the writing on the wall that this is coming sooner rather than later to the US so with a “bit” more work they can have their common components of the phone be manufactured as OEM parts essentially & provide that direct line to iFixIt. They give great pricing to iFixIt and there you go, the margin they may lose on the phones through this is off-set to an extent via the common parts they’re now supplying. They also know if they don’t provide the parts, which is to say they need to produce the top 5-10 components in a single fashion instead of an assembly line, someone else will so they seem to be getting ahead of the game. They are actually modeling the car industry because folks are insanely specific about wanting OEM parts to the extent you have to specify in many contracts you can use OEM or equal quality 3rd party parts. There are even some warranties (which cost more) that specify they will only use OEM parts so Google probably also sees they can charge a premium for “OEM” similar to the auto industry. (I work in Auto)