Google is reportedly planning to shift the production of its flagship Pixel smartphone to India. The development comes from publication The Information citing a company source. The search giant manufactures Pixel smartphones entirely in China.

 The report states that Google has asked manufacturers in India to submit bids for the assembly of 500,000 to 1 million units of Pixel smartphones. This accounts for 10 to 20 percent of Pixel’s estimated total annual production. Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai had hinted at a plan to manufacture Pixel smartphones in India earlier this year but no final decision is taken yet according to the report. If the company gets approval of manufacturing Pixel devices in India, China will still have to play a role in exporting some components. 

Another report also suggests that Alphabet Inc is looking at Vietnam as an alternative destination for manufacturing. 

Google’s move to manufacturing Pixel phones outside China is due to the COVID-19-induced lockdowns causing disruptions in global supply networks. Additionally, there is also an ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing with the former even banning the export of premium chips to China. 

Google’s rival Apple has been manufacturing four iPhone models in India through its contract partners for several years now. The recently launched iPhone 14 is highly anticipated to be locally produced in the country from the fourth quarter of this year. 

Related:

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Last week, Google rolled out the June 2022 feature drop for Pixel phone owners. Along with that, the tech giant released the June 2022 Android security patch. The update came with some new features, usual bug fixes, and certain security improvements. Now, Google has revealed that June 2022 update also brought VoLTE roaming support to Pixel smartphones running on the U.S. and global carriers.

Google is bringing VoLTE roaming to phones because carriers in the United States declared in 2021 that they will phase out their 3G networks. As a result, some handsets that do not support Voice over LTE (VoLTE) or VoLTE roaming may lose voice calling capabilities, including 911 calls, or connectivity while 3G networks are down.

The June software update enables VoLTE roaming for many U.S. and global carriers. This in turn allows many Pixel Smartphones to roam in the U.S. with VoLTE if their carrier supports VoLTE roaming.

The Phones that will receive this update are:

• Pixel 3a, Pixel 3a XL
• Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL
• Pixel 4a
• Pixel 4a (5G), Pixel 5
• Pixel 5a (5G)
• Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro

Google says “if you’re using an older device where VoLTE was not enabled for your carrier you will experience issues on your home network and we recommend you upgrade to a device that has VoLTE enabled for your carrier.  Devices without VoLTE roaming support will not be able to roam on other LTE US networks.”

To continue using voice calling, it is advisable to install the June 2022 update on your device without any delay. To install the update on your device, head to Settings > System > System update.

Related:

• Google Pixel 6a listing appears on Facebook Marketplace ahead of release
• Samsung continues to collaborate with Google on the 2nd Generation Tensor SoC: Report
• Google Pixel 7 Real Life Photos Leaked via Prototype Listed on eBay

• Google Pixel 6a marketing images surfaced online, reveals design and specifications

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