As first announced last October, Google India has confirmed that the first batch of Made-in-India Pixel 8 units is now ready to roll off the production line. The announcement comes shortly before Google holds its Pixel 9 series launch event.
Google India made the announcement via an X post, where it wrote, “Excited to announce that the first of our Made in India Google #Pixel8 devices have started rolling off the production lines. Grateful for the partnership with Hon’ble Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw as we look forward to bringing the #TeamPixel experience to people across India.”
This move is seen as a strategic decision by Google to tap into the huge potential of the Indian smartphone market. When the move was announced back in October 2023, Google said that it sees a “greater opportunity to make Pixel smartphones available to more people in India”, and as a result, it had revealed plans to manufacture its smartphones in India for the first time.
As of now, only the Pixel 8 is being produced in India while all the other Pixel models, such as the 8a and the 8 Pro are being made elsewhere. There’s no word on when these models would join the list of Made-in-India Google Pixel devices.
The Pixel 8 currently sells for Rs 58,999 in India, which is already a significant price drop over the original price of Rs 75,999. It’s unknown as of now as to how the local production of the device would further affect its price. Ideally, the price should go down further considering local manufacturing can reduce the cost of production and distribution of the product.
Meanwhile, Google will be launching the Pixel 9 series in India on August 14, a day after the global launch of the devices. Flipkart and the Indian Google Store listings suggest that the vanilla Pixel 9 may not launch in India yet.