Ok, yeah. I think I misinterpreted the bit of your post that I quoted.

About Google, it's not necessarily Google who manufactured your phone. It is if you have a Pixel, but it might be Samsung or LG or ZTE phone or whatever. And it's not necessarily them who sold you your phone. It might be T-Mobile or Mint Mobile or AT&T. Whoever conveyed GPL'd code in object form (as the GPL puts it "embodied in, a physical product") has the responsibility of ensuring you can get from them the source of all GPL'd code on your device. Including all derivative works and modifications.

Derivative works includes kernel modules. Which includes device drivers for, say, 5G modems and fingerprint readers. And those are the kinds of things (aside maybe from tivoization) that are the biggest hurtles for making a fully free firmware for a given device.

So, yes, I mean the kernel and derivative works of the kernel like drivers. And of course anything else on the device that is GPL'd.

Plus, the GPL also includes what is necessary to compile and install GPL'd code as part of the source code. Some of the implications are pretty cool. See this article by Bradley Kuhn of the Software Freedom Conservancy for more info.

I think if companies did comply with all this, FOSS could benefit ordinary users who don't even know what FOSS is a lot more than it does now.