You make some good points, and it would certainly help somewhat, but it won't solve the underlying problem. Instead of real choice and ability to buy something that will be under your control instead of the manufacturer or operator you need more than giving Samsung et al the ability to remove Google Chrome and install their own browser infested with spyware that no longer receives security updates after it ships and cannot be removed. If these constructs Google enforces on the manufacturers are indeed illegal, why don't Samsung, HTC, etc. not sue Google to get it sorted? I mean, it is a b2b problem.

A Galaxy config? Yeah, they have that now more or less, they offer many alternatives next to the Google ones installed by default that are in all ways inferior to the Google versions of those apps. They replace one big company services with another and do a worse job. No benefit for users.

Anything that does not bring benefits to projects like e.g. Replicant or CopperheadOS are in the end meaningless for "consumer" freedom and progress in the mobile device space.