What makes you think the API costs are "the true price" and anywhere near their inference costs? Also what percentage of users do you think actually maxes out their subscription?
I suspect they're subsidizing a lot less than people think.
I'm calling out the "tech opinionist community" broadly speaking. I don't know if it's the same exact people but it's often the same forums or news outlets.
The same people who told you Google was going to zero three years ago because Search would become irrelevant are now telling you users will move away from Google because it’s removing Search.
When will people learn that the quality of Google’s leadership is better than that of the average Joe on Hacker News or a random tech journalist writing clickbait articles?