Apple has opened its first store in India, Apple BKC, located in Mumbai, with plans to open another store in Delhi. The move highlights the importance of the Indian market to the company’s future growth, with CEO Tim Cook stating that the company has been present in India for over 25 years.

Apple is looking to boost sales and manufacturing of iPhones in India, which has a growing middle class and a young, mobile-first population willing to pay more for phones, especially in Mumbai and Delhi. However, the Indian smartphone market has been dominated by Samsung and Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, with Apple having very little market share.

Apple’s India push also offers the opportunity for the tech giant to boost revenue and iPhone sales, with analysts predicting that India could reach sales levels similar to those seen in the US and China.

Apple is aggressively looking at India from both a production and retail expansion perspective, with analyst Dan Ives suggesting that this could ramp annual revenue to $20 billion by 2025. Apple’s India strategy involves getting users locked into its suite of products, including the Apple Watch and services like Apple Music.

Apple’s move to manufacture its flagship iPhone 14 in India last year is part of the company’s broader manufacturing strategy for the future, which aims to diversify assembly away from China.

The move is also tied to the Indian government’s push to bring high-tech manufacturing to the country. With both a retail and manufacturing push in India, Apple’s India strategy mirrors the tech giant’s steps taken in the China market 10 years ago.

Apple to open first physical stores in India, highlighting importance to the firm’s future