According to a new report, Google wants to stop making any Pixel products in China next year. That includes smartphones, of course, but also smartwatches and earbuds.
In recent years Google has been extending its production capacity in Vietnam and India to reduce its reliance on China, but a “significant” portion of Pixel products are still made in China.
The 2027 timeline came from Google’s successful development and production of Pixel phones in Vietnam this year. Since phones are more complicated to make than smartwatches and earbuds, the company is now confident it can make the full switch.
Google Pixel 11 Pro XL
If Google’s rumored plan pans out, then it will be the second global phone brand to make the move, following Samsung. It’s easy for Google to do this since it doesn’t sell any phones in China, and it was easy for Samsung because its market share in China is negligible.
Google apparently plans to ship 8-10% more Pixel smartphones this year compared to last year’s 12 million units. To decrease price pressure for memory chips, Google has allegedly been bundling chip orders for its cloud computing business with those for smartphones in its negotiations with the memory triopoly of Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.
In fact, an unnamed executive from a Google and Xiaomi component supplier reportedly said that Google could even grab some share from Apple in the US, Japan, and Europe when Apple inevitably makes its iPhones more expensive.