Apple is continuing to press forward with new retail store openings this week, working toward making good on plans to open over 30 new stores during the third quarter of this year.
Apple's Stratford City retail store in London (Thanks, Luke!)
One unusual store opening will take place tomorrow as the Stratford City store opens up in the new Westfield Stratford City shopping center in the northeastern portion of London. The rare mid-week opening for Apple coincides with the grand opening day for the mall itself, a nearly 2 million square foot facility that will be the largest urban shopping center in Europe and serve as a key component of London's plans for hosting next year's Summer Olympics.
Apple's Jungfernstieg retail store in Hamburg (Source: Macerkopf.de)
Apple will also be opening its new Jungfernstieg store in Hamburg, Germany this Saturday. The store will be Apple's seventh German store and second in the city, joining the existing Alstertal store a few miles away.
Apple's Nanjing East retail store in Shanghai
Finally, M.I.C gadget reports that Apple is getting close to an opening for its massive new Nanjing Road store in Shanghai, adding the company's "curtain opening" promotional signage that frequently appears at flagship store locations as the final touches are put on the new stores. The new Nanjing East location will span five levels, with the first floor devoted to product demos and sales and the second floor dedicated to Genius Bar and customer training activities. Portions of the third floor will offer support for business customers, with the remainder of the facility serving as offices for Apple's operations in the region.
Apple may have canceled the super scratch resistant anti-reflective display coating that it planned to use for the iPhone 17 Pro models, according to a source with reliable information that spoke to MacRumors.
Last spring, Weibo leaker Instant Digital suggested Apple was working on a new anti-reflective display layer that was more scratch resistant than the Ceramic Shield. We haven't heard...
Apple has completed Engineering Validation Testing (EVT) for at least one iPhone 17 model, according to a paywalled preview of an upcoming DigiTimes report.
iPhone 17 Air mockup based on rumored design
The EVT stage involves Apple testing iPhone 17 prototypes to ensure the hardware works as expected. There are still DVT (Design Validation Test) and PVT (Production Validation Test) stages to...
Wednesday April 30, 2025 3:59 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is preparing to launch a dramatically thinner iPhone this September, and if recent leaks are anything to go by, the so-called iPhone 17 Air could boast one of the most radical design shifts in recent years.
iPhone 17 Air dummy model alongside iPhone 16 Pro (credit: AppleTrack)
At just 5.5mm thick (excluding a slightly raised camera bump), the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air is expected to become ...
Apple will likely manufacture its 20th anniversary iPhone models in China, despite broader efforts to shift production to India, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In 2027, Apple is planning a "major shake-up" for the iPhone lineup to mark two decades since the original model launched. Gurman's previous reporting indicates the company will introduce a foldable iPhone alongside a "bold"...
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, which launched on April 24, 2015. Yesterday, we recapped features rumored for the Apple Watch Series 11, but since 2015, the Apple Watch has also branched out into the Apple Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch SE, so we thought we'd take a look at what's next for those product lines, too.
2025 Apple Watch Ultra 3
Apple didn't update the...
Tuesday April 29, 2025 1:30 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Tuesday April 29, 2025 3:36 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
All upcoming iPhone 17 models will come equipped with 12GB of RAM to support Apple Intelligence, according to the Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station.
The claim from the Chinese leaker, who has sources within Apple's supply chain, comes a few days after industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all be equipped with 12GB of RAM.
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I think this is part of what people clamouring for a store in their city fail to grasp. Apple demand many things to open a store. One is a large enough population. Two is that the population is affluent enough. Three is a premium/upscale mall with a vacant space of the correct size.
Toronto, Canada has like 7 Apple Stores, and they continue to open more here. The GTA area only has 5 million people.
I have not seen any reference to this store, and can't see anything on that website.
There is however an Apple Store opening in Braehead Shopping Centre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braehead#Braehead_Shopping_Centre) this month (reportedly (http://www.heraldscotland.com/apple-to-open-new-west-of-scotland-store-at-braehead-1.1087127)). The third store in Scotland.
I'll second that, when I was last over at Braehead the store front was blacked out with the big white :apple: logo stuck on front and centre, so I would imagine it was fairly imminent.
Its where the Gap store was on the ground floor.
I also cant turn up any evidence of an East Kilbride store other than it was rumoured prior to the Braehead one becoming public knowledge; I dare say it was a rumoured likely site and Braehead won out in the end.
For Info, not sure if it's already been posted, there's one opening in East Kilbride shopping centre, seen it the other day. http://www.shopek.co.uk/
Cheers, J
I have not seen any reference to this store, and can't see anything on that website.
There is however an Apple Store opening in Braehead Shopping Centre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braehead#Braehead_Shopping_Centre) this month (reportedly (http://www.heraldscotland.com/apple-to-open-new-west-of-scotland-store-at-braehead-1.1087127)). The third store in Scotland.
Rumor has it that the Hugendubel Book Store that is shutting down on Tauentzienstraße 13 across from the memorial church on Ku'Damm is going to be turned into an Apple store :) The truth of the matter is that German urban planners, especially in Berlin, have unbelievably strict restrictions and regulations when it comes to building new structures in the city, and it's unclear whether a bright white store with tons of glass is very "fitting" for this particular area of the Berliner cityscape. So, don't hold your breath, but if there is one I'm pretty sure that's where it'll be.
First read concrete info about the Berlin Apple Store in January. Apparently it's on Ku'damm 26, which is an old cinema building...