Google Pixel 8 to be made in India, will become available in 2024

Google is all set to join leading mobile manufacturers in producing ‘Made in India’ smartphones. Rick Osterloh, Head of Pixel devices at Google said, “India is a priority market for Google for Pixel devices”. Rick was speaking at the Google for India event held in New Delhi today. Google will start its ‘Made in India’ journey with Pixel 8 and the ‘Made in India’ Pixel 8 will start to roll out in 2024. With this announcement, Google will be the latest company to manufacture its smartphones in India. Many leading smartphone manufacturers including Apple, Samsung and some Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi, Tecno, and Oppo are already manufacturing smartphones in India. 

Just announced at #GoogleForIndia: @rosterloh spoke about our plan to manufacture Pixel smartphones in India intending to start with the Pixel 8, and expecting these devices to start to roll out in 2024, joining India’s “Make in India” initiative.
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The company said that it will partner with international and domestic manufacturers to produce Pixel smartphones locally. However, Google is yet to announce who will be its local manufacturing partner in India.

“Today we see an even greater opportunity to make Pixel smartphones available to more people in India, and are very excited to announce our plan to manufacture Pixel smartphones in India. We intend to start with the Pixel 8, and will partner with international and domestic manufacturers to produce Pixel smartphones locally. We expect these devices to start to roll out in 2024, joining India’s “Make in India” initiative,” Google said in a blog post. 

In addition to this, Google has announced its partnership with HP to manufacture Chromebooks in India. The ‘Made in India’ Chromebook will be manufactured at HP’s Flex Facility near Chennai, where the company has been manufacturing a range of laptops and desktops for the past couple of years. These Chromebooks will ‘cater to the demand for affordable PCs in India mainly from the education sector’.

Will ‘Made in India’ Pixel 8 benefit buyers?

Google Pixel 8 starts at Rs 75,999 in India, which is Rs 16,000 more than last year’s Pixel 7. By manufacturing Pixel 8 smartphones in India, Google is likely to save money that goes to the Indian government as import taxes and is reflected in the final price of the product. However, whether the company will pass on this benefit to the buyers is a thing that remains to be seen. For instance, Apple has been manufacturing iPhones in India since 2017 but the prices have mostly remained the same.