Google will start manufacturing Pixel smartphones in India, set to become the latest tech giant to bet on the South Asian market for manufacturing of devices. good news right? Maybe not for the competition.
One of the company executives has said that Google will start the assembling of the Pixel smartphone lineup in India.
At the company’s annual India event on Thursday, Rick Osterloh, Senior VP of Devices and Services at Google, revealed that the firm plans to begin local manufacture with the current lineup, including the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, in India. The company aims to sell the India-made batch starting next year.
The news on Thursday comes after Google and HP recently partnered to produce Chromebook computers in India.
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Google will start manufacturing Pixel smartphones in India
For the purpose of producing Pixel devices locally, we are collaborating with both domestic and foreign partners. Without revealing the identities of the partners, he said,“We are partnering with international and domestic partners to produce Pixel smartphones locally. It’s an early step towards expanding our production here to meet the local demands for Pixel devices and even more importantly it’s a huge step forward in Google’s commitment to India,”
As the most recent tech company to attempt to make India a manufacturing hub, Google counts India as its largest market by user count for many of its services and has pledged to invest over $10 billion in the nation over the next few years. Apple currently produces the newest iPhone models in the nation, while its manufacturing partners started assembling the devices locally a few years ago.
In an effort to get international businesses to establish manufacturing facilities in India, New Delhi is actively providing financial incentives totaling billions of dollars. The incentives are being offered at a time when many businesses, including Apple, are attempting to reduce their reliance on China as the location of their device manufacture, a move known by experts as the “China + 1” strategy.
In a recent note, Macquarie analysts wrote, “With India’s growing domestic demand, and government’s focus on local manufacturing including policy support (lower taxes, production linked incentive scheme etc) and export opportunity driven by China + 1 strategy of global players, India’s EMS industry (finished product and electronics manufacturing) is at the cusp of robust medium-term growth.”
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According to Google, India is a top market for Pixel smartphones, and the business is working to enhance the local customer service experience for its products. According to Osterloh, the company now has 28 service centers spread over 27 Indian cities thanks to Google’s partner F1 Info Solutions.
“From the very onset of our hardware business, we committed to building and investing for the long run. This is an early step in a long journey of expanding our device production capacity and helping meet the country’s growing demand for Pixel smartphones,” he said.
