Apple's first-ever India retail store is reportedly set to open next month, after years of delays.
A new report says that Apple's Mumbai store, which is set to occupy 22,000 square feet of prime retail space in the Jio World Drive Mall, will open in April according to two industry executives aware of the plans.
The Economic Times reports that the store "will be a retail landmark, similar to Apple's outlets in Los Angeles, New York, Beijing, Milan, and Singapore," which is a lot of hype for the new brick-and-mortar offering from Apple.
Apple store India
Apple's first-ever India retail store has been rumored since 2019, and was previously thought to be opening its doors in 2020. However, a series of pandemic-induced delays saw that pushed back to 2020, then 2021, and 2022. Now it seems the fabled shop might actually be real and set to open in just a couple of weeks.
That means customers in India will have plenty of times to get their hands on new devices announced at WWDC 2023, including a rumored 15-inch MacBook Air, and update to the 13-inch MacBook Air, and maybe even Apple Reality Pro, the company's rumored VR headset.
And that's not all, a second Apple store is reportedly set to open in New Delhi, however, the report doesn't offer any such timescale for this, so it seems unlikely this will open in time for the iPhone 15 launch in September.
While Apple only brought its online store to India in 2020, the vast country remains a growing market for Apple. Notably, the company has pushed its manufacturing partners to pour money into building iPhones in the country to reduce its reliance on China.
Apple is still hiring for multiple retail positions in its India retail stores, with job listings for "various locations within India" posted this week. That includes technical expert positions, Genius roles, Creatives, and Business Pros, suggesting the new stores will offer all the expected trappings of Apple retail including phone and Mac repairs, classes and tutorials, and more.
