Google will begin manufacturing Pixel smartphones in India in an effort to reach more customers in the country.
The tech giant will start by producing the Pixel 8 in India and plans to partner with international and domestic manufacturers to produce the smartphones locally, the company said at its annual Google for India 2023 event this week.
Google expects the phones to roll out by 2024 but offered no immediate details on how many smartphones will be manufactured or where factories will be located.
The move comes after Google committed to investing $10 billion in India in July 2020 over the next five to seven years via its India Digitization Fund.
India has become the world's second-largest mobile phone-producing country, behind only China, according to Counterpoint Research. The growth in the sector is due in part to key national manufacturing booster programs, such as Make in India, Production Linked Incentive Incentives and Self-reliant India, all launched in the past decade.
Google sees India as a crucial growth market, where a large swath of smartphones run on its Android ecosystem. Google is working to keep up with Apple and Samsung, which were the top two smartphone manufacturers in India as of July, according to Counterpoint Research.
The announcement is another example of the growth in manufacturing in the region beyond China. Google manufactured about 9 million units of Pixel phones in China and Vietnam last year, Bloomberg reported in June.
