Alphabet Inc’s Google on Friday announced it will manufacture its flagship Pixel line-up of phones in India, the latest tech giant after Apple and Samsung to make devices in the country.

Google said it will make the Pixel 8 in India and the devices will roll out in 2024. The tech titan outlined its plans at the annual Google for India event .

Google senior vice-president for devices and services Rick Osterloh said the company will partner international contract manufacturers to make the phones.

“We will start manufacturing Google Pixel series smartphones in India,” Osterloh said at the event here.

“When we set out with our hardware business, we committed to building and investing for the long run, and our plan to manufacture in India is at an early step in the long journey of expanding our device production capacity and helping meet the country’s growing demand for Pixel smartphones,” Osterloh said

“It is good for Google, and it is good for India,” said Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Google had reportedly been in talks with local manufacturers such as Lava, Dixon and Bharat FIH as well as suppliers to assemble its Pixel smartphones in the country, as part of a move to ‘‘decouple’’ from China, a prevailing sentiment amongst Western giants since Covid.

This is similar to what rival Apple did, by announcing a one billion dollar local manufacturing plan in South India a few years ago — many of its latest iPhone 15 models out in global markets now sport the ‘‘Assembled in India” tag.

The launch of the iPhone 15 last month was a major milestone for Apple as it was the first time both Indian-made and Chinese-made iPhones entered the global market at the same time.

Google’s move gained strength back in the summer, following the visit of Alphabet chief Sundar Pichai to India, where he discussed the matter with Vaishnaw. The companies being considered as Google’s local partners have all qualified for the PLI (production-linked incentive) scheme.

The announcement, Google said, is at an early step on their bid to expanding its device production capacity.