"Apple pushing ahead with this will just make Google desperately push Android as hard as they can."

What does that mean, exactly?

"they might be more willing to see Android devices put into consumers' hands at break-even (or even loss-making) prices"

That already happens. Samsung's profits and phone shipments are substantially down, LG made 1.5cents operating profit per phone in Q2, Sony made a loss, HTC made a loss; and those are the premium handset makers, most of them part of conglomerates. All selling Android.

"Apple will either see market share decline or need to sacrifice part of their margins to maintain share."

This is a common refrain since about 2010. Hasn't happened so far.