Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, inaugurated the company’s first official store in India on Tuesday, marking a significant milestone for the tech giant after roughly 25 years in the South Asian market. Cook, who is on a visit to India for the first time in years, has planned meetings with influential business leaders, including Mukesh Ambani of Reliance and Natarajan Chandrasekaran of the Tata Group, as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Apple is looking to increase its share of the luxury smartphone market in Asia’s second-largest economy and compete with Samsung.
Apple’s 20,000-square-foot store, located in a high-end shopping mall in Mumbai, is the first of two retail locations scheduled to open in India. This move comes as Apple is expanding its manufacturing capacity in India, aiming to turn the country into a key global iPhone assembling hub. The company is expected to produce 25% of all iPhones by 2025 in India, according to JP Morgan analysts.
Despite Apple’s increased efforts in India, its products, including the iPhone, remain prohibitively expensive in India, and several Apple services are unavailable to Indian consumers. Apple’s iPhones currently account for less than 5% of the Indian smartphone market, with Google’s Android commanding about 97% of the market.
Millions of Indian consumers continue to buy Apple products despite feeling like second-class customers. While Tim Cook’s visit to India is a noteworthy event, it has yet to bring about substantial change for Apple enthusiasts in the country.
