> It was the single way of printing from Android -- a couple of billion devices sold -- for the longest time
Cloud print was added to Android at the same time Android added support for generic printer drivers. Cloud Print is, in fact, just a generic printer driver as far as the OS is concerned. There are, and have been, native print drivers, though. HP, for example, has Android drivers: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04024231
Google Cloud Print was released in 2010, and was the way of printing on Android as of 2011. Native print drivers were added to Android in 2017. A print "framework" was added in 2014, where manufacturers could build hacked-out targets, which a couple did, although most are relatively newer.
This is a far cry from "same time". Indeed, most manufacturers STILL pitch Google Cloud Printer up front, most electronics store put it as a primary selection criteria, and it's always a feature on the box.
I'm not defending Google Cloud Print. It was always a terrible solution that was poorly thought out from the outset. But it's classic Google that so many are put in this situation.
Cloud print was added to Android at the same time Android added support for generic printer drivers. Cloud Print is, in fact, just a generic printer driver as far as the OS is concerned. There are, and have been, native print drivers, though. HP, for example, has Android drivers: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04024231