No, it's functionally equivalent to uninstalling; the only difference is that since the app was installed on a read-only filesystem, the apk can't be deleted. But it's gone as far as the OS cares; it can't be seen or used or run (even in the background) unless the user manually re-activates it.

Android added this capability specifically so that users can remove anything that's pre-loaded, regardless of what any company wants. There's no iOS equivalent because Apple doesn't want to to remove their stuff.

However, you can actually disable pre installed apps in Android, with some exceptions (AFAIK, none of the Google services apps are in those exceptions).

Disabling an app is almost the same as uninstalling (the app can't be open, does not run in background, etc.), however since they are pre installed applications they are still present in /system partition (not a problem since /system is not available for users data anyway).