First Apple Store in India Delayed Due to Global Health Crisis

The first physical Apple retail store in India, promised by Apple CEO Tim Cook last year to open in 2021, has been delayed due to the worldwide health crisis, the company has confirmed to The Indian Express.

apple india
Last year, during an earnings call, Apple CEO ‌Tim Cook‌ stated that his company plans to open its first official Apple Store in India by 2021. Clearly, due to the unforeseen and unpredictable challenges presented by the global health crisis, Apple has delayed its store opening in Mumbai.

In September, Apple tailored to its strong Indian customer base by opening an online store. This gave customers a direct way to purchase products from the company itself rather than from authorized retailers.

In the past, Cook and other Apple executives have remarked on India's importance, including in the latest quarterly earnings call, stating that Apple had grown double-digits in India, along with a few other countries.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday November 3, 2025 5:54 am PST by
Following more than a month of beta testing, Apple released iOS 26.1 on Monday, November 3. The update includes a handful of new features and changes, including the ability to adjust the look of Liquid Glass and more. Below, we outline iOS 26.1's key new features. Liquid Glass Toggle iOS 26.1 lets you choose your preferred look for Liquid Glass. In the Settings app, under Display...
2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Adjusts Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday November 6, 2025 11:12 am PST by
Apple today updated its trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models. Trade-ins can be completed on Apple's website, or at an Apple Store. The charts below provide an overview of Apple's current and previous trade-in values in the U.S., according to its website. Maximum values for most devices either decreased or saw no change, but the iPad Air received a slight bump. ...
Finder Siri Feature

Apple's New Siri Will Be Powered By Google Gemini

Wednesday November 5, 2025 11:57 am PST by
The smarter, more capable version of Siri that Apple is developing will be powered by Google Gemini, reports Bloomberg. Apple will pay Google approximately $1 billion per year for a 1.2 trillion parameter artificial intelligence model that was developed by Google. For context, parameters are a measure of how a model understands and responds to queries. More parameters generally means more...
Liquid Glass General Feature

Apple Shares Liquid Glass Design Gallery

Thursday November 6, 2025 2:45 pm PST by
Apple is promoting the new Liquid Glass design in iOS 26, showing off the ways that third-party developers are embracing the aesthetic in their apps. On its developer website, Apple is featuring a visual gallery that demonstrates how "teams of all sizes" are creating Liquid Glass experiences. The gallery features examples of Liquid Glass in apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac. Apple...
Apple Logo Spotlight

Report: Apple to Launch These New Products in 2026

Sunday November 2, 2025 5:34 am PST by
Apple is planning to launch at least 15 new products in 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman outlined what to expect from Apple in 2026 in the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter. He said the company is heading "into one of its most pivotal years in recent memory," with the rollout of major new Apple Intelligence features, intense regulatory pressure on the App Store,...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.1 With Liquid Glass Toggle, Slide to Stop Alarm, New Apple Intelligence Languages and More

Monday November 3, 2025 1:11 pm PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.1, the first major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.1 comes over a month after iOS 26 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.1 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings > General >...
apple watch se 3 always on

Apple to Remove iPhone-Apple Watch Wi-Fi Sync in EU With iOS 26.2

Thursday November 6, 2025 4:37 am PST by
Apple in iOS 26.2 will disable automatic Wi-Fi network syncing between iPhone and Apple Watch in the European Union to comply with the bloc's regulations, suggests a new report. Normally, when an iPhone connects to a new Wi-Fi network, it automatically shares the network credentials with the paired Apple Watch. This allows the watch to connect to the same network independently – for...
Early Black Friday Deals 2

The Best Early Black Friday Apple Deals

Sunday November 2, 2025 10:04 am PST by
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When ...

Top Rated Comments

Darth Tulhu Avatar
56 months ago
Covid is no joke. It infuriates me that we have a viable mitigation in place but people are STILL dying left and right all over the world for dumbass capitalistic or political reasons.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tavsingh Avatar
56 months ago
We're happy with the online store.
Do something to decrease the 40%+ tax on Apple products.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ElectricPotato Avatar
56 months ago

...mass covid-19 outdoor crematoriums
In the US we had refrigerated morgue trucks being filled by prison labor. The horrors of this pandemic are numbing. A delayed store opening does not even register.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pdaholic Avatar
56 months ago
Hard to lament the delayed opening of an Apple store when there are mass covid-19 outdoor crematoriums in this country. God help them.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pro_the_legend Avatar
56 months ago
Forget the physical store, let them add support for the online store on the Apple store app. It’s a pain to shop from the website from the phone.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
svish Avatar
56 months ago
Waiting eagerly for the 1st apple store in India. Would be nice if one store opens in Bangalore too.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)