Google plans to move Pixel phone production away from China despite rising memory prices, according to TechCrunch.

According to a report by Nikkei Asia, Google is planning to move the manufacturing of all its Pixel smartphones and smartwatches outside of China by 2027.

The company will relocate production to Vietnam and India in what is likely related to ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China.

With this shift, Google would become the second major smartphone company after Samsung to completely separate its production from China.

Google has gained more confidence in implementing this plan after successfully manufacturing leading Pixel phones in Vietnam this year, as it has also assigned NPI (New Product Introduction) stages to factories there.

This stage allows for the complete manufacture of phones like the Pixel 11 Pro in Vietnam, starting from the initial stages. This is a more complex process than producing the Pixel Watch or Pixel Buds.

On the other hand, Google faces less pressure from Apple to move its operations outside China, especially since Pixel phones are not officially sold in the Chinese market. Samsung already has a strong supply chain structure in Vietnam, which provides Google with a model it can leverage when expanding there.

In conjunction with production relocation, Google expects to increase Pixel phone shipments by 8-10% this year compared to 2025, when the company recorded around 12 million units.

Despite the rising prices of memory chips, Google is seeking to support the growth of Pixel shipments and improve its ability to negotiate with memory suppliers, including Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix.

To this end, it is said that the company is consolidating its requests for memory chips for its cloud computing and artificial intelligence businesses with those for chips destined for smartphones, in order to strengthen its negotiating position and reduce the impact of rising costs.

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