Apple Builds on India Story
The tech giant has already expanded its production base in the country and is now venturing into setting up company-owned retail stores in Mumbai and Delhi
Over the past few months, the Apple story and its expansion across India has been making news for the right reasons. Now, chief executive Tim Cook has committed to growing the company’s 25-year legacy in the country by supporting customers’ requirements and investing in them for future growth.
The company is set to launch the first of its two retail stores in India tomorrow (April 18) at Mumbai an (April 20) in Delhi and in all probability the events would once again bring Cook on a platform with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose administration has been instrumental in deepening Apple’s engagement in India over the past few years.
Cooking up a stronger link with India
“At Apple, our mission is to enrich lives and empower people around the world. “India has such a beautiful culture and an incredible energy, and we’re excited to build on our long-standing history — supporting our customers, investing in local communities and working together to build a better future with innovations that serve humanity,” Cook said in a statement.
Apple’s journey into India has been an interesting one, given that the company hardly thought it worthwhile to launch its products in the country till some years ago. However, once this changed, the company started using India as a manufacturing hub and soon expanded it by moving parts of its Chinese manufacturing facilities over.
“This week, as Apple celebrates more than 25 years in India, the company is marking a major expansion with the opening of its first Apple Store locations in the country, along with new environmental initiatives and a key milestone in the rapidly growing community of Indian developers,” the company said in the statement.
Retail stores indicate Apple’s deeper commitment
In the past, Apple has used its branded retail stores to drive sales in new geographies and the latest efforts towards this indicates that the company is quite keen to establish a stronger foothold in the country, which happens to also be its second largest market for iPhones after China, market analysts have said.
Growing incomes amongst the youth and their perception of iPhone and other Apple products as a symbol of status has driven growth in the premium smartphone segment in India over the past few years. In fact, analysts say this segment appeared immune to economic slowdowns with most sales being driven offline, given the high product costs and need for financing.
On its part, Apple is also doing its bit by assembling more smartphones in India with the hope that this would reduce prices to some extent, if only for the older models. Till end-March, the company had put together handsets worth $7 billion from India, which still accounts for only 7% of the total iPhone production. The company exported devices worth $5 billion that accounts for 5% of its total exports, out of India.
Shipments in 2022 grew 11% year-on-year that helped its highest-ever volume share of 5.5%, according to market research by Cybermedia. The company, which began manufacturing iPhones back in 2017, now produces the most recent iPhone 14 (base model) and a slew of the older ones through its contract manufacturing team of Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron.
