Apple opened its first retail store in the world’s second-largest smartphone market, India, yesterday, and CEO Tim Cook made sure he was present.
Another store is set to open in the country’s capital, New Delhi, on Thursday.
The store in Mumbai signals the iPhone maker’s trade expansion and shift from China to India, which is widely stirred by the rising US-Beijing tensions.
Last year, Apple started assembling the iPhone 14 in India for the first time. The company’s main manufacturer, Foxconn, recently invested $700 million in a plant in Karnataka, India.
Not just Apple
Samsung and Google are also planning expansion in India. Other industries, including Galeries Lafayette (luxury designer clothing) and Boeing (the aviation giant recently struck a deal with Air India), see the potential in India.
Just last month, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo traveled to India to discuss potential collaborations relating to semiconductor manufacturing.