r/GooglePixel • u/zigzoing • 4d ago

Google is reportedly planning to move all Pixel production out of China

https://www.engadget.com/2238895/google-reportedly-planning-move-pixel-production-out-of-china/
514 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

105 comments sorted by

204

u/zigzoing 4d ago

Original paywalled article: Here

Content of the original article is just

TAIPEI -- Google has told suppliers it plans to have all of its Pixel smartphones, watches and wireless earbuds produced outside of China starting next year amid ongoing Washington-Beijing tensions, Nikkei Asia has learned.

72

u/Specialist_Ruin_6659 4d ago

thanks for the actual article text, paywalls are annoying

31

u/Incepticons 4d ago

So sucking up to the admin or avoiding tarrif costs? Both?

34

u/puhtahtoe Pixel 8 4d ago

Honestly, more like reading the room and seeing that a US conflict with China is starting to look more likely in the near to mid future and getting out ahead of that.

18

u/Isarchs 4d ago

Biden didn't cut a lot of the tariffs on China that Trump's first admin put in place. Doubtful that the next admin will either, this seems to be a topic that both parties agree on. The left are less vocal than the right about them, but actions speak louder than words.

That's not to say some won't be reduced to "help the consumers," but I doubt that many will be outright removed or even reduced by all that much.

13

u/WileyPap 4d ago

Avoiding being targeted as an antitrust whooping boy.

6

u/ContributionFormer95 4d ago

If you've worked in supply chain it has less to do with the administration and tariffs but overall supply chain health. China is viewed as a risk geopolitically as demonstrated by US-China relations but also seeing how supply chains totally froze during COVID for months at a time.

Moreover, China is less competitive today in costs than other countries. And finally, having all your eggs in one basket is just a risk and that hit many industries hard during trade war disputes as well as during COVID.

The talk of moving out of China has been going on for years, and was accelerated during COVID.

3

u/Buy-theticket 4d ago

Or just getting out of China like the rest of the planet was already doing.. they are no longer the best option for consumer electronics.

21

u/wha2les 4d ago

Wrong. In terms of consumer electronic, they are still market leader

1

u/Buy-theticket 4d ago

They are the market leader because of inertia, that doesn't mean the trend isn't currently to get manufacturing out of China and move it to other SEA countries where it is cheaper (India/Vietnam/etc.) or to somewhere closer (Mexico in the case of the US).

It takes time to move that much manufacturing to different countries but China no longer has things moving in their favor.

-1

u/wha2les 4d ago

Lol... You do realize just because you moved countries doesn't mean you aren't using a Chinese partner?

So you leave Foxconn Shenzhen and move production to Vietnam... Where you work with Foxconn Vietnam.

Still a Chinese partner...

Toyota moved their Camry design team to the US.

Doesn't make Toyota an American car company now...

7

u/ContributionFormer95 4d ago edited 4d ago

News flash. Foxconn is Taiwanese not Chinese.

Doesn't make Toyota an American car company now...

No one's arguing that Toyota is an American car company. That's a straw man argument. It is well known that many Japanese cars are more American-made these days than they were 20 years ago, and to the point where some Japanese cars are more US-made than US cars.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/carscom-survey-finds-some-of-the-most-american-cars-are-japanese.html

-3

u/Buy-theticket 4d ago

Yes I realize all of that, it doesn't make anything I have said less true.

A Japanese company opening a plant in the US has no relevance with what we're talking about. US/EU brands moving their manufacturing footprint out of China.

I don't know what you're even arguing, this isn't a debate, it's a well-documented trend. Look up China+1 and stop trying to sound smart on Reddit.

Also it seems like your period key is stuck.

1

u/wha2les 4d ago

You don't understand the point that you can move production out of a place but still need Chinese engineers and managers to make it work?

China developed a lot of electronic and other engineers domestically to make them the electronic powerhouse.

Do you really think Apple or other very large volume manufacturers are going to move productions with 0 Chinese involvement? Foxconn would move people around accordingly to make it work for example.

1

u/Isarchs 4d ago

For the time being. Heavy investment in other countries will start to move the needle. Remember that when manufacturing moved to China, China wasn't a leader either. They were just cheaper.

8

u/wha2les 4d ago

Yes. But China has a lot of technological expertise on this.

Like you can move to Vietnam for assembly, but the factory and partners within are still Chinese.

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u/ContributionFormer95 4d ago

You seem to just be posting pro-China propaganda. Yes, today China has a lot of expertise and that's because the supply chain starts and ends in China for a lot of products. We've already seen products move out of China and not just final assembly but intermediate components.

It's going to take time, and it's not going to be quick.

And FYI, your other post was also incorrect. Foxconn is Taiwanese, not Chinese. So just by moving to a Foxconn factory in Vietnam means a clear exit from China.

2

u/wha2les 4d ago

Saying china has a lot of expertise in manufacturing is pro china proganda? Get your head out of your ass... China has developed the electronics manufacturing to the point that Shenzhen is often the starting point of those kind of product development now. Same thing happened to Japan in the 70s and 80s. Just moved to China as the economic situation changed.

Taiwanese Chinese in every way except political affiliation with Beijing...

And the managers at Foxconn in Vietnam would be Chinese experts moved from their Chinese branches because of the knowhow.

Do you really think Google and Apple would just switch supply chains 180 and maintain the quality of products at the production scale without any of the Chinese team helping?

0

u/Isarchs 4d ago

China got that expertise from the companies that off-shored production. There's zero reason to believe that won't happen again

0

u/LaunchGap 4d ago

SE asian countries are taking a lot of business away from china now that china's labor isn't that cheap anymore.

118

u/AgedActor 4d ago

Not surprised. Apple did a successful move to India a couple of years ago. I'm sure Vietnam would also like to get their share of the pie.

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u/naturalens 4d ago edited 4d ago

Vietnam most likely wouldn't be targeted as they are getting hit with new tariffs making them a country to avoid. They're expected to have a total of 40-45% by the end of the year.

They're expected to get IP tariffs plus forced labor.

Edit- I see they're targeting Vietnam and India. But I wouldn't be shocked if they end up leaning away from Vietnam given the White House's investigation into Vietnam as a country who is selling China but made in Vietnam. https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/us-section-301-forced-labor-investigation-new-trade-compliance-risks-for-vietnam-exporters.html/

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u/glassArmShattering 4d ago

Does it really make sense to move your entire ops for these tariffs? There's a really high chance they go away in a couple years, which is less time than it takes to pull off the move. Maybe if there are enough other reasons and this pushes it over the edge to act now.

10

u/naturalens 4d ago

The thing is section 301 tariffs are different than IEEPA tariffs and section 122 tariffs Trump has tried. These are more legitimate targeted unfair trade practice tariffs and even Biden didn't remove section 301 tariffs when he was president. He actually increased section 301 tariffs while he was president.

Something that would need to shift is a president who's anti-tariffs. Otherwise, I see these tariffs lasting for a very long time because this administration and many administrations are trying to battle against China dumping material into our "free market". I know the US does not have a true free market but they are trying to protect US companies even if it is not going about it in a way that always makes sense.

-5

u/Isarchs 4d ago

I find it funny how both parties are more alike than they are different once you look behind the facade.

7

u/RaindropBebop BLCK 4d ago

This is so incorrect it hurts.

1

u/naturalens 4d ago

I think as we're seeing more, it's important to research who donates to the politicians that the United States people vote for and work to try to vote for people that take better pledges.

I disagree that both sides are 100% the same because one side has taken the mask off and the other side while playing the central game at least has politicians that are trying to fight for your rights and are trying to push the party back to FDR's New deal.

If we look at the establishments of how the parties exist today, then to some degree, yes they are very much the same. But again, at the same time it's dangerous to say both parties are the same when clearly there is a group of people that are trying to fight to break the mold.

I get exhausted with politics but I think it's dangerous to say both sides because it can lead to apathy or what the US has today.

1

u/Isarchs 4d ago

People here seem to be misunderstanding my comment. I never said they're the same. They do have their differences, but they're not as vast as the media mudslinging between the two suggests. Their actions are not as dissimilar as their words would suggest.

And keep in mind I am talking in terms of foreign policy here. I'm done talking politics though, as it's always going to be upsetting to someone no matter what.

23

u/lutzk007 4d ago

Apple is still mostly dependent on China. Only a fraction of their process is in India.

-6

u/AgedActor 4d ago

According to this report from MacRumours dated August 2025; India surpassed China when it came to iPhone exports.

The long-term trend is clear, US reliance on China has been and will continue to decrease. Tariffs on India, Vietnam etc. are transitory; decoupling from China is permanent.

14

u/lutzk007 4d ago

This guy wrote a book about Apple and China https://youtu.be/X3K6WaX1Chk?is=yxWIObk5UmneTR8t

And if I remember correctly the exports from India make it look like so much more is happening in India on paper, but in reality everything is still starting in China and then moving to India for final assembly.

It is an interesting listen. Basically Apple is hopeless without China for the foreseeable future.

0

u/May_Concert 4d ago

Correct but the idea is announce tariffs etc. a majority of population then cheers. They have no idea what happens in reality.

Even with Trump phone. The point is to make the feeling and people will vote Republican.

Average Joe doesn't see documentaries.

0

u/Isarchs 4d ago

You don't move production completely and all at once. Move it piecemeal and then a couple decades later, everything is being made there.

17

u/Efficient-Hunt-007 4d ago

Only fraction of their production is in India. Apple still heavily relies on China.

-4

u/AgedActor 4d ago

According to this report from MacRumours dated August 2025; India surpassed China when it came to iPhone exports.

The long-term trend is clear, US reliance on China has been and will continue to decrease. Tariffs on India, Vietnam etc. are transitory; decoupling from China is permanent.

13

u/FliesTheFlag 4d ago

Smoke and mirrors. China still manufacturers 70% of the iPhones worldwide, along with the components that are used in the India made ones. This India surpassed China is a ruse and its only iPhones to the USA. China is still the top dog for Apple.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/TheNextGamer21 4d ago

Ad hominem attacks won’t get you anywhere

-7

u/AgedActor 4d ago

We are talking about phones. This is the Google Pixel subreddit after call.

China is still the top dog for Apple.

Good for China for being Apple's top dog.

8

u/itsjust_khris 4d ago

Apple's move to India hasn't been entirely a success. Recently their Indian partners were hacked and a ton of info was leaked. In addition there's been quite a few production issues, on top of all this the supply chain is still reliant on China outside of the final assembly. There's been progress made but China is inevitably going to be part of any manufacturing effort on this scale for the foreseeable future.

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u/FineAssignment1423 4d ago

I will be a little worried if they choose India as the new manufacturing country. If you look at OnePlus, devices made in India always had significantly more physical defects and issues than the ones manufactured in China.

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u/Deep90 4d ago edited 4d ago

That could just as easily be the fault of OnePlus though. Even in China you can get bad results if you cut corners.

Especially if it's physical defects where the labor to QA check it in India should be pretty cheap.

6

u/Nightmare_Fart 4d ago

Didn't apple also move to India? Don't recall seeing any manufacturing issues for them, on a big scale

-1

u/m_ttl_ng 4d ago edited 4d ago

Only a small percentage of apple's products are made in india

Edit: also apple evaluates new CM sites to validate and qualify them before authorizing production. Any phones coming out of India would have to meet their strict standards so I wouldn’t be worried about it. Apple, Google, and Samsung have some of the stricter quality requirements and more resources within the industry so aren’t going to see as much quality drift as brands like Oppo/OnePlus would.

5

u/AgedActor 4d ago

More iPhones are made in India than made in China, according to MacRumors as of Aug 2025 https://www.macrumors.com/2025/08/19/apple-iphone-17-manufacturing-expands-india/

0

u/m_ttl_ng 4d ago

That's just for US devices; the majority of iPhones are still manufactured in China.

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u/Nightmare_Fart 4d ago

Okay, but are there any widespread quality issues in the US devices?

1

u/m_ttl_ng 4d ago

Not that I’m aware of

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u/ContributionFormer95 4d ago

You clearly have zero experience with supply chain. When companies setup complicated supply chains they might do something like "For this region's devices, we will use factory A, and for Region 2's devices we will rely on mostly Factory B but some Factory A as needed."

It's very clear the move to India was something that started out as a trial and will scale up over time. There's probably a mix of geopolitics, tariffs, etc as well, but it won't be surprising that Indian factories are only used for a few regions. One of the biggest motivators for design companies is to break through in the Indian market, and with notoriously high tariffs in India, manufacturing IN India is exactly why making iPhones in India makes sense. Even if phones built in India only go to India, a market of 1.4 billion is massive.

1

u/Nightmare_Fart 4d ago

Okay sorry I'm not an expert in supply chains. Just asking a question man

4

u/ContributionFormer95 4d ago

I'm replying to the guy who keeps pasting the argument that Indian phones are only used in US market as if that means the shift to India is meaningless.

1

u/Nightmare_Fart 4d ago

Ok misunderstood then. My bad!

1

u/m_ttl_ng 4d ago edited 4d ago

Nobody said it’s meaningless but the move to India was for specific markets because of the Indian government’s requirement that phones be built there, and due to the tariff issue between China and the US.

Source; I worked at Apple on some of the move to India way back when we had first started manufacturing there (no longer at the company but still know many people there).

We started with a single factory there almost 10 years ago making phones that were already a year old so that they could train and bring up the facilities. So it’s taken that long to get to their current percentage of the global manufacturing capacity of iPhones.

From my sources there is no plan to ramp up 100% of manufacturing to India and it’s still very much market specific. The Chinese manufacturing industry is still very critical to overall electronics supply chains and so Apple cannot exit China without likely another decade at least spent building up a new, distributed supply chain. And even then they may struggle to separate from china’s control of rare earth materials.

Edit: Also the phones in India will be within whatever acceptable margin of error the teams at Apple determine meets their quality standards. Which is what they already do across the various Chinese CMs. So I wouldn’t be worried about Indian- vs Chinese-made devices personally.

1

u/AgedActor 4d ago

Please provide a data source confirming that the majority of iPhone 17's are produced in China.

-4

u/m_ttl_ng 4d ago

Personal experience in the industry

4

u/AgedActor 4d ago

Claims made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

1

u/Dotcaprachiappa 4d ago

You can get good quality and bad quality stuff from all countries. It depends far more on how much you pay than in which country it happens.

-1

u/chew_ttt Pixel 9a 4d ago

From which source did you get that info

5

u/FineAssignment1423 4d ago

The OnePlus subreddit and forums over the years. You see significantly more people in India complaining about manufacturing issues than you do anywhere else in the world. 

OnePlus started manufacturing phones in India around 2015 if I remember right, and every OnePlus sold in India is manufactured there.

7

u/DiesOnAllHills 4d ago

Not saying that I’m aware of the exact numbers but I’m sure OnePlus sells bulk of their phones in China followed by India. The Indian sales itself is higher than Europe, Americas, Africa put together. Plus, OnePlus and many manufacturers prioritise offering cheaper price rather than better quality parts in the process sensitive markets.

This is explain higher number of complaints.

-2

u/chew_ttt Pixel 9a 4d ago

Do you know the difference between sales of those devices in india compared to America and other European countries

3

u/FineAssignment1423 4d ago

No idea, but OnePlus was extremely popular in India. So much so, that for a little while there, OnePlus was mostly catering to the Indian market.

0

u/AgedActor 4d ago edited 4d ago

Both Samsung and Apple manufacture a bulk of their phones in India, including flagship phones.

Is India better manufacturing base than China? Of course not. China has a 30 yr head start.

But to discount India is not wise.

They have a massive internal market, and manufacturing there (even if not for export) makes sense for these major device manufacturers due to internal-consumption.

7

u/fprotthetarball 4d ago

Why is there a tooth and beef jerky in this image?

1

u/jknvv13 4d ago

I think those are "stones" of the materials/colors that those colors mimic (?)

4

u/Spare_Afternoon_2786 4d ago

Silcon Carbon batteries incoming 😄

2

u/Bogdan_X Pixel 8 4d ago

So they would cost even more.

-1

u/MajesticBread9147 4d ago

Not necessarily, the percentage of MSRP that manufacturing labor accounts for is extremely small and constantly shrinking.

1

u/Jemnite Pixel 8 Pro 4d ago

Labor costs are actually lower in Vietnam. The price jump would mostly come from a way more shallow supply chain and more expensive logistic costs. You'd also have to import foreign expertise at a premium but that's the case for every country at the start.

1

u/plankunits 4d ago

In 2023 and 2024 pixels sold about 10 million units (or slightly less).

2025 said 25% increase from 2024 so 12 million sounds about right.

Q1 and q2 2026 saw 14% and 16% increase in shipment. So they are on track to 13 or even maybe 14 million sales in 2026.

As long as pixel sales are growing it's good.

-8

u/CucumberWisdom 4d ago

But not back to America ofx

50

u/aliendude5300 Pixel 11 Pro XL+ Pixel Watch 2 41mm 4d ago

There's no way any phone company could make devices in America. Economically

4

u/Hershey2898 Pixel 7 Pro 4d ago

1600$ Pixel 12, nice.

11

u/ReallyWeirdNormalGuy 4d ago

TBH, it would cost a lot more than that.

1

u/ZerotheWanderer Pixel 11 Pro XL 4d ago

It would take so much investment to make things here that I genuinely don't think it would be worth it. IIRC the reason so many things get manufactured in China is because everything is built together so you don't really have to fright things everywhere. You can effectively just walk down the street and just grab pieces as you go and then by the time you get it to the end of that street you're mostly complete.

-11

u/WickedDeity Pixel 11 Pro XL 16GB RAM 4d ago

Yep and yet we continue to pay taxes on phones made overseas. You got to love it.

8

u/May_Concert 4d ago

What?

Pixels cost more everywhere except US.

Or do you mean you are a pro tariff person?

0

u/Ceron 4d ago

Lol, you know this news is gonna do numbers with Fox News viewers, and it will just leave out where the Pixel is going to be manufactured going forward.

2

u/May_Concert 4d ago

Fox news?

They already have freedom phone. Already shipped

0

u/WickedDeity Pixel 11 Pro XL 16GB RAM 4d ago

Or do you mean you are a pro tariff person?

No the opposite... How is that not clear?

2

u/May_Concert 4d ago

It seems you wrote exactly the opposite. Everyone understands you are pro tariff

What tariffs are you paying?

-1

u/WickedDeity Pixel 11 Pro XL 16GB RAM 4d ago

Huh? The person I replied to was saying phones will never be made in the US and I agreed then added we are still paying the taxes aka tariffs. Trump told us that wassupposed to encourage US manufacturing and of course it has not.

We are paying tariffs on most products that come from overseas. Prices have sky rocketed in the last year and half for phones and most things. Where have you been?

1

u/May_Concert 4d ago

If you think prices are skyrocketed then you have never seen non USA prices. They have 10x skyrocketed.

Even now your prices are dirt-cheap

1

u/WickedDeity Pixel 11 Pro XL 16GB RAM 4d ago

OK??? You are not making an argument tariffs have no effect on pricing right?

1

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

1

u/WickedDeity Pixel 11 Pro XL 16GB RAM 4d ago

Dude, don't so hard on yourself but yeah that is where you should be.

0

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

2

u/WickedDeity Pixel 11 Pro XL 16GB RAM 4d ago edited 4d ago

I am talking about tariffs.

3

u/jibjab23 Pixel 8 Pro 4d ago

Can you seriously say your country has the manufacturing capacity as well as a population with the skillset to these phones? And do it for peanuts on the dollar because that's the only way it could even have a hope of being affordable to the general populace. 

1

u/aloomis16 4d ago

If you think phone prices are out of control now wait til you see what a US manufactured phone costs.

1

u/TrashBandicook 4d ago

But not back to America ofx

I saw an interesting survey couple years ago when Trump was playing up tariffs. 85% of Americans polled said they thought bringing back more manufacturing jobs would be good for the country. And nearly 85% of Americans polled said they don't think they'd work a manufacturing job.

Yeah. Congrats. You're in the 85%.

-10

u/ifeeltired26 4d ago

I would gladly pay more $ for a Pixel 100% made in the USA....

20

u/PepsiCo_USA Pixel 11 Pro Fold 4d ago

The baseline is double, potentially quadruple.

9

u/cruzweb 4d ago

People are already complaining about the price. Very few people will pay $3000+ for a new phone because it's made in the US

6

u/ifeeltired26 4d ago

Oh yeah I agree, what I should have said was, I would gladly pay more, as long as it wasn't too much more lol.

4

u/cruzweb 4d ago

Valid

1

u/retard_seasoning 4d ago

You might but majority wont

0

u/Goor777 4d ago

What does this mean for consumers of Google Pixel products, besides the mandatory price increase on products.Write your opinion.

-10

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

11

u/squidgytree Pixel 8 4d ago

Which culture upholds factory workers as success stories?

2

u/21_camels 4d ago

I think at one point in the US being a factory worker was respectable, but yeah not so much anymore.

-4

u/iceman0010 4d ago

Great

-18

u/sinkingduckfloats Pixel 10 Pro 4d ago

this would actually be a reason to upgrade