We want to be in 5,000 cities: Google India’s Mitul Shah on making Pixel a mass-market brand in India

It’s been four years since the Pixel flagships returned to India. And with the launch of the Pixel 11 series, it is pretty evident that Google is laser-focused on cracking the code for the Indian smartphone market. With the newest launches, the company is putting AI, security, and a more seamless upgrade experience at the centre of its pitch to Indian consumers. Google has also expanded Pixel’s retail and after-sales presence in the country, while introducing initiatives such as the Pixel Upgrade Programme to make it easier for consumers to move to a new Pixel every year. But despite this progress, the company still has a long way to go before Pixel becomes a truly mass-market smartphone brand in India.

To address all things Pixel, I spoke to Mitul Shah, Managing Director of Devices and Services at Google India, about the company’s smartphone strategy, the role of AI, India-specific Gemini experiences, pricing, retail expansion, and what Google needs to do to challenge Apple and Samsung in the country’s premium smartphone market.

Q. With the Pixel 11 series, what do you believe is the single biggest reason an Indian consumer should choose a Pixel over a Galaxy, an iPhone, or another premium Android phone today?

Mitul Shah: I wake up every morning with two very clear missions on my mind. We want to put AI-powered devices in the hands of Indian consumers, and we want to solve the hardest problem in this market, in this industry, which others have not attempted right now. One of the hardest problems is: can we put more and more cutting-edge technology to as many Indian consumers as possible? So it’s not about competition; to be very honest, it’s about giving choice to our customers.

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For instance, Magic Capture is such a beautiful feature on the Pixel 11. Like, I relate so much to it. Last year, I was at my daughter’s culmination, and she was performing on the stage, and you know, as a proud father, I’m trying to take her video, but I’m also trying to make eye contact with her, and I knew very well that while I was doing that, I was missing out, clicking the picture, right?

Magic Capture almost felt like somebody took my heart’s desire and put it onto the Pixel. You can be in the moment while the phone does the work for you. And I think that’s the foundational shift we are making with Pixel 11 devices: that your phone has to do more for you than you do with your phone. Now, if that makes your life simpler, if that allows you to be more in the moment, and that makes a compelling choice for you to choose Pixel over others, then that’s great.

But otherwise, my team’s and my job is to give Indian consumers a way of making their lives simpler, better, smoother.

Q. Google has made AI the centre of the Pixel experience. What are the Pixel 11’s AI capabilities that you believe will actually change how Indian consumers use their phones?

Mitul Shah: I think there are plenty. See, first and foremost, I think a smartphone today carries our entire lives. It has your memories; it has your credit card details. It has all your confidential conversations, chats, and personal data. So, the first and foremost thing that comes to my mind when we are talking about smartphones and what AI does to a smartphone, which is not a great feature or a marketing showcase, is security.

For example, the Tensor G6 processor paired with the Titan M3 chip actually creates a security layer so strong that the latest Pixel 11 is quantum-safe, even from future quantum computer threats. This device is secured.

Pixel already provides you with a spam filter. It provides you with security features so superior that for five consecutive years, this phone has been rated as the best security by Omdia Group in the industry. I believe that’s where the device and the AI truly shine. Now there are a bunch of other features that I talked about during the briefing, like Magic Capture and my personal favourite, Rambler.

I actually use Gemini as my thought partner. So I oftentimes just talk, download all my brain dump, iterate it, and it cleans up so nicely. I think that’s where the beauty of the technology comes in. I don’t have to worry about how I speak. I can continue with my thought process, and then I don’t have to sit down and edit my notes. The technology will do that for me, and that’s what saves me time. And what saves me time is the time that goes towards my family and things I love to do most.

Q. India is an incredibly diverse market, particularly when it comes to languages and how people interact with technology. How specifically are you building Pixel and Gemini around Indian users, and what more can we expect in terms of India-specific AI experiences?

Mitul Shah: The part that excites me the most is that Gemini actually knows how Indians converse. We change languages and make a sentence. Sometimes we put it on text. Gemini actually knows this, and not just in one or two, but actually in nine different Indian languages.

By the way, there is also a dedicated effort by our Google DeepMind team in India, which is actually capturing how India speaks, not just in the main languages, but across multiple accents.

We also saw Gemini speaking in Haryanvi during the Google I/O event earlier this year. That’s the part that excites me the most. So we are not talking about mainstream language. India is not one language, one market. India is a rich, diverse, multilingual market, and Gemini inherently understands that.

Q. Google has significantly expanded Pixel’s retail, financing, and after-sales presence in India over the past year. What has changed in the way Indian consumers buy and experience Pixel, and where do you still see the biggest gaps?

Mitul Shah: We’re very happy with the way our business is moving forward in India. The way customers are responding to our devices, the way we are able to solve some of the hardest problems, be it how we show up with retail experiences so the customer can actually truly touch and feel AI experiences or how we solve for services. Starting 13 August in Delhi, we are also coming with the Google Pixel Upgrade Programme.

But at the heart of it, we are literally at Step 1. We have been here in India for a long time. This is a strategic market for Google. This is a strategic market for Pixel, and while we made a tremendous amount of progress in the last 18-20 months, we are still scratching the surface.

I want to be in 5,000 cities in this country. We want to reach out to 18,000 PIN codes in this country. We want to make sure that every single customer who’s looking to get the latest and greatest of AI technology and is looking to consider Pixel or adopt Pixel as a way for them to make their lives better. We are there, so there is a long way to go, and we’ve just got started.

Q. The premium smartphone market in India is extremely price-sensitive, especially now when RAM prices are rising and flagship phone prices continue to rise. How does Google balance the cost of bringing cutting-edge technology to market with the need to make Pixel compelling for Indian consumers?

Mitul Shah: One, these rising component prices are something that is impacting the entire industry, and that is not just limited to smartphones. Any and every device which is using RAM memory, all those devices are impacted by it.

I actually feel that, more than India being price-sensitive, our country is actually a value-sensitive market. As a customer, regardless of what the MRP tag says, you would always know, looking at the device, whether it is worth the value or not. And I think that is the core foundation we focused on at least.

Are we maximising value for Indian customers? Regardless of what the price point is. Now, if you happen to have hardware that has seven years of OS security feature upgrades, it has seven years of spare parts guarantee, if that hardware is coming to you with the Google Pixel Upgrade Programme, if that hardware is safe from future threats like quantum attacks. And if that hardware today you can buy with the top two banks in the market, you get a tremendous amount of value on your existing device; you get cash back. When you put all of that together and see that the device is also able to bring the best of Gemini, the best of Google intelligence to you, that is a certain amount of perceived value as a customer you would get out of that device. As long as that value continues to remain relevant for the market, I think we’re good.

Q. You came to Google specifically to lead Pixel’s sales and expansion in India. What is the biggest barrier that still prevents Pixel from becoming a truly mass-market smartphone brand here: awareness, distribution, pricing, consumer perception, or something else?

Mitul Shah: India is a large market. I wish, if I have to take a picture of the future where I want this business to be, that no customer in India should travel more than 10-15 km to get their hands on the new Pixel. That’s the future I would love to have, but you can’t make that kind of large network expansion happen overnight. We’re working very, very hard to get there so that anyone who ever wants to buy a Pixel doesn’t have to go too far, right?

That’s one of the reasons we have our own Google online store, which is able to service as many as 12,000 to 15,000 pin codes in the country. That’s why we launched our own service, which also serves the same number of PIN codes. So we’re working very, very hard to get as close to Indian consumers as we can get, but there are miles to go before we sleep.

Q. Google has significantly increased its focus on India, but Samsung and Apple have extremely strong premium ecosystems here. What is the one thing you believe Google still needs to fix or improve before Pixel can seriously challenge those two brands in India’s premium smartphone market?

Mitul Shah: First and foremost, I’m a customer in India. And again, take a step back. What I want for myself, and so for all the other customers whom I represent, is that they have a choice. I want us as Indian customers to have access to the latest and greatest technology the world has to offer, right?

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We are the fastest technology-adopting market in the world. When this technology is given to Indian consumers, what can they do with it in terms of creativity, their productivity, or just being present in the moment, or the joy they can create for themselves, for their family? It’s unparalleled, so our job is not to compete. Our job is to enable choice for Indian customers, and then you have to trust them.

Indian customers are the smartest in the world. If you put in a value, if they see that the device or the technology can create value in their life, if it makes their lives better, they would choose it. So we need to focus on creating a compelling choice for them and tell them how these devices would add value to their lives, and after that, whatever additions they have to make, they will make.