I believe all the DeGoogled phone operating systems run on Google hardware and Google Firmware, using Google Drivers. Is it sufficient to have a DeGoogled OS, it it’s running on a Google system? Is this their workaround?
In the past, firmware’s only purpose was to allow the OS too communicate with the hardware. It was minimal and only updated if the hardware changed. Now it’s like another program. My dell computer automatically updates its firmware on a regular basis. I can install Linux, and use it instead of Windows, but it’s still running on top of their software.