Google announced the launch of Pixel 8 smartphones in India – almost ten months after it announced its intention to do so. And in the near future, the presentation of the Pixel 9 smartphones is expected. Indian production is still limited to the base Pixel 8 model and does not include the Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 8a.
In October last year, Google announced plans to assemble Pixel smartphones in India in order to expand its presence in the Indian smartphone market, the second largest in the world after China – the company decided to rely on India’s growing manufacturing potential. The day before, Google announced that the first batch of locally produced Pixel 8 had begun rolling off production lines in India. The company did not talk about its local production partners, but, according to TechCrunch, Compal, a global partner of Google, from the very beginning established contact with the Indian Dixon Technologies on localizing the release of Pixel 8 in the country. Dixon Managing Director Atul B Lall confirmed the partnership with Compal, but did not provide details.
India’s domestic demand for mobile phones is already 99.2% met by locally produced devices, India’s Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada said last week. In FY 2023-24, the country’s local output stood at $50 billion, an increase of 8,138% from $2.25 billion in FY 2014-15. Export of locally produced mobile phones in 2014–2015 was $186.54 million, and in 2023-2024. reached $15.37 billion. Along with Google, Apple and Samsung have already established production in India – they sell their products both in the country itself and in various developing markets. Xiaomi and Oppo also have production facilities in India to meet local demand, but their export share is still insignificant.
Today, Google is expected to unveil the Pixel 9 series smartphones, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the Pixel Watch 3 smartwatch. The company is also likely to talk about new Gemini AI capabilities for mobile devices.