Amid ongoing tensions between the US and China, a new report claims that Google is planning to end production of all Pixel devices including smartphones, smartwatches and wireless earbuds, in China by 2027. As per Nikkei Asia, the US-based tech giant has told suppliers that it plans to have all of its Pixel devices produced outside China starting next year.
Manufacturing premium smartphones is more complicated than producing smartwatches and wireless earbuds. The company has already been expanding its manufacturing presence in India and Vietnam to reduce its dependence on China.
According to the report, Google’s successful development and production of high-end Pixel smartphones in Vietnam this year has given the company confidence to move ahead with its 2027 target.
“Compared with Apple, Google has no burden (to leave China) as it does not sell Pixel phones in the Chinese market. The progress in Vietnam is smooth, as Samsung has built a smartphone supply chain ecosystem there that Google could also access,” a person familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asia.
What It Could Mean For India
India could be one of the key beneficiaries of Google’s plan to reduce its dependence on China for manufacturing.
Google has already increased Pixel smartphone production in India. Moving more production out of China could help the company further expand its manufacturing in the country.
Also, India has also emerged as an important global smartphone manufacturing hub in recent years, with major brands like Apple and Samsung increasing local production and exports.
For the Alphabet-owned company, having manufacturing operations across India and Vietnam will help diversify its supply chain and reduce dependence on a single country.
If Google successfully moves all Pixel production out of China, Nikkei Asia said that it would become the second major global smartphone brand after Samsung to decouple its smartphone manufacturing from the country.
The US-based tech brand is also betting big on Pixel smartphones this year. The company reportedly asked suppliers to prepare for an 8 per cent to 10 per cent increase in Pixel shipments from around 12 million units last year, despite rising memory chip costs.
“The strategy for the Pixel phone this year is: Attack. We are told Pixel phones need to keep their shipment growth momentum at all costs,” a source told Nikkei Asia.
Google is hoping that Pixel smartphones will become an important gateway for consumers to use its Gemini AI services.
