Google is eyeing shifting some manufacturing of its Pixel smartphone lineup to India, in accordance with a report, the most recent in a collection of phonemakers with rising ambitions to regionally assemble their handsets within the world’s second largest market.
The Android-maker has solicited bids from producers to assemble between 500,000 and 1 million models of the Pixel smartphone, The Data reported Monday. The proposed bid accounts for Pixel’s 10-20% of annual manufacturing, the report added.
If Google strikes forward with the plan, it alerts the corporate’s rising dedication to its smartphone enterprise. It can additionally probably assist the corporate enhance the gross sales of Pixel smartphones within the nation, which is the corporate’s largest market by customers and the place it has dedicated to spend $10 billion over the course of some years.
Google has skipped launching the flagship variations of its cellphone in India for the previous three years, as an alternative specializing in serving the market with the mid-range a-series lineup. By regionally producing the telephones within the nation, will probably be in a position to keep away from the heavy import responsibility New Delhi at present levies on its smartphones. Furthermore, the Indian authorities additionally presents a spread of incentives to companies regionally producing {hardware} in India.
Google declined to remark. The corporate hasn’t taken a remaining name on shifting some Pixel manufacturing to India, the report cautioned.
Like Apple, Google has additionally been shifting a few of its manufacturing efforts exterior of China. Nikkei Asia reported that Google was additionally planning to maneuver some Pixel manufacturing to Vietnam.
Google’s rival, Apple, started assembling iPhones in India 5 years in the past and is anticipated to begin producing the iPhone 14 lineup within the nation later this yr. Xiaomi, Samsung, Oppo and Vivo — phonemakers that at present lead the market in India — have been regionally producing smartphone lineups in addition to a spread of different devices within the nation for a number of years.
India is the second largest smartphone maker. Over 120 million smartphone models go on sale within the nation every year and the nation’s smartphone set up base has exceeded 600 million, in accordance with analysis agency Counterpoint.
