Google Announces Plan to Manufacture Pixel Phones in India, Starting With Pixel 8

Google says the first Pixel 8 units manufactured in India will be available in 2024.

Written by David Delima | Updated: 19 October 2023 12:49 IST

Google Announces Plan to Manufacture Pixel Phones in India, Starting With Pixel 8

Photo Credit: Google

The Google Pixel 8 will be the first Pixel-branded smartphone to manufactured in India

Highlights

Google Pixel 8 was announced by the company earlier this month
The smartphone will be manufactured in India in early 2024
There's no word on whether the price of the Pixel 8 will drop

Google on Thursday announced that it plans to start manufacturing Pixel smartphones in India. The search giant will produce the Pixel 8 in India and the first units are expected to be available in 2024. The Pixel 8 was launched by the company in India and global markets earlier this month, alongside the more premium Pixel 8 Pro model. The handset is powered by a custom Google Tensor G3 chip and a Titan M2 security chip. The phone has a dual rear camera setup and is claimed to offer up to 72 hours of battery life with the Extreme Battery Saver mode.

Seven years after the launch of its first Pixel-branded smartphone, the company announced at its Google for India 2023 event that it plans to manufacture its smartphones in India. The company will start by assembling the Pixel 8 in India, and says that it will work with both local and foreign manufacturers.

The production of the Pixel 8 — and presumably Google's subsequent Pixel smartphones — in India is expected to commence in 2024, according to the company. Customers can expect to see Pixel 8 units manufactured in India by next year.

Google Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro to Get Lossless USB Audio Soon

The announcement makes Google the latest smartphone brand to start manufacturing its handsets in India. Rivals Samsung and Apple also assemble some of their smartphones in the country. However, it is currently unclear whether the pricing of Google's Pixel handsets will drop once more units are manufactured in the country.

Meanwhile, Google also announced that it plans to expand coverage of its service network to more cities and locations across the country — the company currently offers support in 28 service centres located in 27 cities that are operated by F1 Info Solutions.

"This is an early step in a long journey of expanding our device production capacity and helping meet the country's growing demand for Pixel smartphones," Senior VP for Devices and Services Rick Osterloh said on Thursday.

Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 the best foldable phone you can buy in India right now? We discuss the company's new clamshell-style foldable handset on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Google Pixel 8

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Smaller form factor makes it more comfortable to hold
Excellent and bright display
Cameras are still the best
Packed with AI features

Bad
Battery life is still not the best
Expensive
Tends to heat up under heavy load

Read detailed Google Pixel 8 review

Display 6.20-inch

Processor Google Tensor G3

Front Camera 11-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 12-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 128GB, 256GB

Battery Capacity 4575mAh

OS Android 14

Resolution 1080x2400 pixels

More Google mobiles Google mobiles price in India

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Further reading: Pixel 8, Google Pixel 8, Pixel, Google India, Google

David Delima

Email David Delima

As a writer on technology with Gadgets 360, David Delima is interested in open-source technology, cybersecurity, consumer privacy, and loves to read and write about how the Internet works. David can be contacted via email at DavidD@ndtv.com, on Twitter at @DxDavey, and Mastodon at mstdn.social/@delima. More