Apple To Launch More Stores In India To Strengthen Presence

Following the successful inauguration of two stores in India, Apple is all set to launch more stores in the country.

As per Bloomberg report, Apple is not looking at any city other than Mumbai and Delhi-NCR for the next stores.

The report speculates, while the third store may be in Borivali, Mumbai, the fourth and the second largest store may be located at DLF Promenade Mall, New Delhi. However, the stores are going to be launched in 2025 and 2026 respectively. 

Further in 2027, the tech giant is planning one more store launch in Mumbai, which may be by the seaside in the Worli area. 

In April, Apple opened its first store in Mumbai BKC, followed by another store inauguration at Saket, Delhi.

During the launch, CEO Tim Cook said that he was bullish for India. He also met Prime MInister Narendra Modi, to discuss further investments in the country. 

The company seems to have a strong roadmap of bolstering its presence in India, not just through augmenting its manufacturing units, but also through launching more retail outlets.

In just the two current stores, the company employs almost 200 people from different states of the country, with proficiencies in different languages.

Besides Apple, other major smartphone manufacturers including Samsung and Xiaomi also seem to be leaning towards India for both manufacturing and retail.

Recently, Bloomberg also reported MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar stating that the Samsung Noida factory is already capable of producing 120 Mn units of phones per year. In addition, the tech giants, Apple & Samsung are also planning to boost local manufacturing in India, and increase local production of other devices including laptops, servers, tablets, etc.

Also, recently, Xiaomi announced plans to pave the way towards its ‘Make In India’ goals. Last month, it said it would start the production of wireless audio products in India. Following this announcement, Indian assembler Dixon also announced that it has partnered with Xiaomi to manufacture smartphones in India. The company is also, reportedly, eyeing a 50% increase in the production of locally sourced components by 2025.

Last year, a Counterpoint report found that manufacturers shipped over 44 Mn units of ‘Made in India’ smartphones Q1 FY2022-23, and the count seems to be increasing with rising competition and demand.

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