I dont think that it is 100% correct to say that Google dont care about hardware sales because if they didnt why bother with the Nexus program.
What I think Google wont do is continue to release hardware into an arena overflowing with competition which is exactly the battleground of the 7 inch tablets, Why has the Nexus 10 replacement not surfaced? Are they rethinking the specs, or are they looking to see if there is a market at all for a nexus 10 among all the other 10.1 inch tablets.
I have seen more deals on the latest nexus 7 than I ever saw on the original version, many rumours that the sales arent as strong as Google want it to be. Google wont want to lose money so will look at opportunities to put out hardware into a marketplace that isnt at saturation point.
Time will tell.