Apple Once Again Delays First Apple Store in India Until Next Year

Apple has once again delayed the opening of its first physical retail store in India, The Economic Times reports.

apple india
The store was originally planned to open in 2021, but the global health crisis and economic uncertainty forced Apple to delay the opening. Now, Apple has decided to delay the launch until early 2023, with today's report saying the company is aiming for a launch between the January and March timeframe. The store in Mumbai is set to be 22,000 square feet and will be a "landmark" store known for its iconic design.

Apple is also planning a second, smaller store in New Delhi that will measure 10,000-12,000 square feet. Beyond those two stores, Apple is also looking at other possible locations in malls and high-end shopping districts across India with the intent of making retail a large part of its presence in the country.

In 2020 Apple opened its online store in India, offering Indian customers a direct way to purchase products directly from Apple without having to go through an authorized premium reseller. Apple executives have repeatedly stressed the importance of the Indian market. Most notably, Apple began production of the iPhone 13 in the country earlier this year.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected [Updated]

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 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 >...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
maxresdefault

iOS 26 Code Leak Reveals Apple Smart Home Hub Details

Thursday December 11, 2025 4:02 pm PST by
Apple is working on a smart home hub that will rely heavily on the more capable version of Siri that's coming next year. We've heard quite a bit about the hub over the last two years, but a recent iOS 26 code leak provides additional insight into what we can expect and confirms rumored features. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Macworld claims to have access to an ...

Top Rated Comments

Justin Cymbal Avatar
44 months ago
Very exciting to see Apple opening up their first store in India next year

Apple now has over 500 stores worldwide and I’m glad that they continue to expand and build amazing stores in new countries all over the world
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nkapple Avatar
44 months ago

The average Indian will have to work 724 hours—around 90 days—to afford the iPhone 13, compared to 50 hours for the average US worker. Let’s see how it goes.
The world economy does not work that way. I mean based in average. If the market is huge enough , even a top 5 percent means huge amount of revenue pool. Why should apple miss the fastest or second fastest large economy in the world.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AbhiAchShan Avatar
44 months ago
Almost waiting since 2 Years for their Store, I was quite happy when they opened their Online Store in India, now only thing remaining is offline store, which is repeatedly being delayed, I almost planned to visit this Aug, according to some rumours, but :(. Still Excited to look the first Apple Store in India
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kshitijshah Avatar
44 months ago
Physical store launch is critical to bringing up service standards in India.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
apparatchik Avatar
44 months ago
I'm sure both current and mid term growth in India allows for say the top 20-30% of the population to afford Apple products, specially those working in tech and living in big cities. That 20-30% would make for a larger market than the whole of the US. Sure, there might be 70-80% of consumers left out ATM but the numbers are just on a different scale, especially if you count all the tiny markets in Europe where Apple has presence since forever.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kshitijshah Avatar
44 months ago

India has a law that requires manufacturing in country for certain products. Apple was forced to negotiate and open a manufacturing center to be able to sell them in country. I think that has proven to be far more difficult than they thought it should be. I'm sure there are people in Apple management working on an ulcer over dealing with India.
I am sure executives at Apple are paid well enough o navigate these issues. Every major brand has a thriving business in India. Apple doesn't have to navigate any special rules.


I'm concerned that the leader of India is going to push Pakistan too far and once the nukes start flying, it's over.
How is this relevant to the discussion?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)