I don’t really get what selling Chrome and Android would accomplish.

There was a leak of Google’s old page ranking algorithm (not PageRank, but how they change the order of results on search) - it looked like they used a bunch of signals from Chrome about the amount of time users spend on a page, how quickly they go back, etc. Chrome gives the search side of the business an advantage.

Conversely, Android feeds a bunch of extra data to the ad business about what people do in real life.

Both products give the rest of Alphabet a significant advantage over their competitors, and make it harder for new entrants to get a foothold.