Google is considering shifting some of its Pixel smartphone production to India. The reasons for the considerations are the strong corona restrictions in China and the increasing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The US group has obtained offers from manufacturers to assemble between 500,000 and one million units of the pixel smartphone in India, the tech portal The Information reported on Monday. That equates to 10 to 20 percent of the estimated annual production of Pixel devices, the report continues.
Should Google go ahead with the plan, it would be a sign of the company’s growing involvement in its smartphone business, writes TechCrunch. It will also likely help the company, the US online portal suspects, to improve sales of Pixel smartphones in the country, which is the company’s largest market by user.
Incentives for production in India
Google has failed to launch the flagship versions of its phones in India for the past three years, instead focusing on serving the market with the mid-range A-Series, writes TechCrunch. By producing the phones locally in the country, the company can avoid the high import duties that New Delhi currently levies on smartphones. In addition, the Indian government offers a number of incentives for companies that produce hardware in India.
However, according to The Information, Google has not yet made a final decision on moving Pixel production to India. Components from China would probably still have to be imported. Nikkei Asia reported that Google is also considering Vietnam as another manufacturing base.
Competitors also active in India
Google’s competitor Apple has also relocated part of its production out of China. The US tech group began assembling iPhones in India five years ago and is expected to produce the recently introduced iPhone 14 series in India as well. Smartphone manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Samsung, Oppo or Vivo have been producing smartphones and a range of other devices in India for several years.
More and more corporations are looking for alternatives to China as a production location since global supply chains have been repeatedly interrupted because Beijing sealed off important technology locations in the country due to strict corona restrictions. Recently, the US banned the export of some high-end chips to China, increasing tensions with the Asian country.
