Google held initial talks with several suppliers about shifting the assembly of at least some Pixel devices to India, Bloomberg reported, the latest device maker to assess manufacturing in the country as an alternative to China.

The news site claimed early conversations had been held with a range of companies including Foxconn local division Bharat FIH, Lava International and Dixon Technologies India.

Its sources noted there is no guarantee a shift in production of the devices will be the end result.

A The New York Times report published in September 2022 stated Google’s Pixel smartphones are manufactured across China and Vietnam, with the vendor having moved some of the production to the latter for its then latest device generation.

A further shift away from China would see Google follow fellow US smartphone player Apple in reducing reliance on facilities in the country, with the iPhone-maker having reportedly already pushed suppliers towards using facilities in India.

The trend comes during long-running trade tensions between the US and China, and as Indian authorities continue to push the country as an international production hub, as part of the Make in India initiative launched in 2014.