According to a report, Google Pixel smartphones may be built in India in the future. Google appears to have invited bids from Indian manufacturers to contribute to the company's expected yearly output of Pixel devices. Due to COVID-19 lockdowns in the nation, which have impacted manufacturing and supply chains, Google is allegedly looking to transfer Pixel phone manufacture from China. Rising geopolitical tensions between China and the United States have been cited as another explanation for this change in production. Google is the second large corporation, following Apple, to consider India as an additional industrial base.
According to The Information (via Reuters), a person with firsthand knowledge of the conversations stated that Google had requested bids from Indian manufacturers to produce between 500,000 and 1 million Pixel devices. These figures reflect 10% to 20% of Google's expected annual manufacturing of Pixel devices.
The reasons cited for shifting some of its Pixel smartphone production outside of China are the country's COVID-19 lockdowns, which have disrupted manufacturing and supply chains, and rising geopolitical tensions with the US following a trip to Taiwan earlier this year by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
It is unknown what variants of Pixel devices Google intends to manufacture in India. The Pixel 3 series of smartphones were Google's most recent flagships in India. Google skipped the Pixel 4 series but delivered the mid-range Pixel 4a, skipped the Pixel 5 series and Pixel 5a, and launched just the premium Pixel 6a in the nation, again bypassing the flagship Pixel 6 series completely. The Pixel 7 series will be available on October 6.
Google has overtaken Apple as the second largest manufacturer to consider transferring some of its smartphone production to India. The Cupertino business is also apparently intending to augment iPhone 14 production in China owing to geopolitical difficulties and hindered economic activity caused by COVID-19 limitations in the nation.
