- Google has reportedly partnered with Dixon Technologies to manufacture the Pixel 8 series in India.
- Dixon Technologies has reportedly started the trial production.
- The first batch of ‘Made in India’ Pixel units are expected to be available from September.
Pixel 8 series launched last year and comes with the Tensor G3 chipset, up to 120Hz AMOLED display, and 7 years of OS updates. Now, it looks like ‘Made in India’ Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro models are expected to hit the shelves in the country as Google has reportedly partnered with Dixon Technologies in the country. This falls in line with a report from February which said that Google is working on decentralising the supply chain from China.
Google Pixel 8 series will be made in India
- According to a report from the Economic Times, Google has apparently started manufacturing the latest Pixel 8 series in India.
- This falls in line with the company’s announcement from last year where it mentioned that it will start making the Pixel 8 lineup in India in 2024.
- The report notes that Dixon Technologies has reportedly started the trial production and the first batch of ‘Made in India’ Pixel units are expected to be available from September.
- Dixon Technologies plans to manufacture 1,00,000 units per month and export 25-30 percent locally made models.
The ET report mentions that Dixon Technology’s wholly-owned subsidiary Padget Electronic, based out of Noida, will manufacture the Pixel devices in the country. To this extent, the subsidiary recently signed an agreement with Compal Electronics, which is a Taiwan-based manufacturer of Google products.
The main motive behind local manufacturing seems to the coming from the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile phones. This is in addition to the “competitive production price offered by Dixon Technologies.”
Pixel phones are historically pricier for the kind of hardware they offer. It remains to be seen if there will be any impact on the prices of the Pixel phones now that the phones are made in India.
Apple, Samsung and others are already making phones in India
Google appears to be the last one to join the ‘Made in India’ bandwagon. This is considering Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and all other noted brands are already actively making phones in the country for a while. In India, Tata Group is also manufacturing Apple iPhones and is reportedly expanding the Hosur plant to double the production capacity. Another contract manufacturer Foxconn is investing more than $1.5 billion in an Indian construction project to fulfil Apple’s supplier’s operational needs.
On the other hand, earlier this year there were reports that Samsung will be manufacturing the new Galaxy S24 flagships in India and these will be sold locally and even exported to global markets. Not just this, the brand is also reportedly manufacturing the Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 foldables in the country. OPPO, Vivo and Xiaomi are also actively making phones in the country.
