Google to start manufacturing Pixel phones for domestic and export needs in India: Report

In a bid to focus more on India with its new Pixel phones, Google is planning to begin manufacturing the smartphones in the country. The units are likely to manufacture the devices for both domestic and export needs. Speaking to Economic Times, a senior Google executive said that the tech giant was going to come strong with the launch strategy of the successor for Pixel 4a (Review) in India. They will be importing a large quantity of the devices so that the inventory is fully loaded post-release.[caption id="attachment_8936861" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Google Pixel 4a. Image: Tech2/ Sheldon Pinto[/caption]

According to reports, Google is to launch Pixel 5a in June this year and it could be the first Pixel model to be marketed.The executive added that the company had “doubled” the inventory for Pixel phones in India last year and moving ahead on the path, this year Google will “get a larger share from global inventory for the India market”.The firm is also closely monitoring the pricing strategy of companies like Apple and OnePlus who provide smartphones in India in the range of Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000. It can be expected that Google will launch Pixel 5a in the same price range later. Calling pricing a “learning curve”, the exec said their call of “aggressive pricing for Pixel 4a” gave them “good results”.The portal also stated why Google did not launch the Pixel 5 (5G) and Pixel 4a (5G) in India. Quoting the executive, it said high hardware cost (along with the price of 5G Qualcomm chipset) was behind the 5G variants not being released in the country. “Why do we want an expensive phone when Indians can't use 5G?” the official said.Plans for furthering the brand awareness of Pixel in the Indian market were also discussed in the report.Earlier, a tipster had leaked that Google is planning to launch a Pixel phone on 11 June 2021. As the Pixel 6 and the foldable Pixel device are likely to be launched at a Made by Google event, expected to be held in September or so, the release date could be for Pixel 5a.