Google to end Pixel manufacturing in China from 2027, shifting output to Vietnam and India

Nikkei Asia reports the decision follows Google's first full flagship development cycle in Vietnam, as India scales up as an export base.

Google has told its suppliers it plans to produce all Pixel smartphones, smartwatches and wireless earbuds outside China from next year, moving the work to Vietnam and India as Washington-Beijing tensions persist, Nikkei Asia reported this week.

A sizable share of Pixel output still sits in China, but Google now believes it can move all of it out by 2027, a source told Nikkei. The confidence follows the successful development and production of its high-end Pixel phones in Vietnam this year, with the report noting that advanced smartphones are harder to build than smartwatches and earbuds.

That distinction matters. Nikkei reported in January that Google would begin a new product introduction (NPI) for its Pixel, Pixel Pro and Pixel Fold lines in Vietnam, with the lower-end A series development staying in China for the time being. NPI covers process development, verification and refinement, and is the phase where design and manufacturing engineering are most tightly coupled.

Google had to invest in testing equipment and tooling machines, and verify and fine-tune the production process, to build the phones in Vietnam from scratch, according to Nikkei’s latest report.

Completing the shift would make Google the second major global smartphone brand after Samsung to move handset production fully out of China. Sources told Nikkei that Google carries less of a burden than Apple because it does not sell Pixel phones in the Chinese market, and that progress in Vietnam has been smooth because Samsung has already built a smartphone supply chain ecosystem there that Google can tap.

Google is pushing for volume growth at the same time. The company has told suppliers it expects Pixel shipments to rise 8% to 10% in 2026 from roughly 12 million units last year, which would put it at about 13 million units at the top end of that range. Google sees the phones as a route to bringing more users onto its Gemini AI services, one reason it is holding to growth despite higher component costs.

Those costs are the sharpest constraint on the industry this year. To improve its position with memory suppliers, Google has combined orders for chips used in its cloud-computing business with its smartphone orders in negotiations with Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix, Nikkei reported. That bundling is unusual and reflects an advantage most handset makers do not have. Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo have cut 2026 shipment targets by as much as 30% as AI-server demand absorbs memory supply, with Xiaomi's revised figure falling to roughly 95 million units and Oppo and Vivo each dropping below 90 million.

Second-quarter global shipments fell as much as 11% year-on-year, a 13-year low for the period, with Apple and Samsung the only major vendors to grow. Counterpoint Research analyst Gerrit Schneemann told Nikkei that Google's US promotional strategy has fed through to stronger sales, and that premiumization and the pricing of the Pixel 9a and 10a are supporting demand.

Google has also been more restrained than Samsung and Motorola in raising prices on existing models.

Neither destination country is starting from zero. Foxconn and Compal have handled Pixel assembly in Vietnam since 2023. In India, Foxconn assembles Pixel phones in Tamil Nadu, while Dixon Technologies' wholly owned Padget Electronics builds them in Noida with Taiwan's Compal Electronics. Dixon accounts for 65% to 70% of Indian Pixel output, including current-generation models.

Indian outlet Digit reported that Google exported 10,504 Pixel devices from India in January and February 2026, against 602 in the same period a year earlier, and that Google could expand exports further to the US and Europe.

The plan landed days after the current flagship went on sale. Google announced the Pixel 11 on 12 August at $899, $100 above the Pixel 10's launch price, and dropped the 128GB tier so that 256GB is now the entry configuration across the range. The Pixel 11 Pro starts at $1,099 and the Pro XL at $1,299, with retail availability from 20 August.

The increase is not a like-for-like comparison given the storage change, but it lands in a year when memory is the dominant cost line in a handset bill of materials. Nikkei framed the decision around the US-China relationship rather than cost, and did not attribute it to a specific tariff, export rule or piece of legislation. Google has not commented publicly on the report.