The world’s largest expertise agency, Apple, opened its first retailer in Mumbai on Tuesday. The corporate plans to open a second retailer within the capital on Thursday. The Mumbai retailer can be Apple’s 523rd retailer. However the euphoria across the openings, the tech big faces stiff competitors in India, the place its iOS-based merchandise have a market share of solely 6%.
Of late, Apple has been eyeing India, not solely as a market, but additionally as a base to fabricate its high-end cellphones. The transfer is seen as a part of Apple’s technique to maneuver its base out of China, the place strict covid restrictions final yr severely hampered manufacturing actions. Mint explores Apple’s footprints in India:
Apple’s market
With the addition of two shops in India, the overall variety of Apple shops will improve to 524. Most of those shops—272, or 52%—are within the US, adopted by China, which has 44 (or 8%) of them. The remainder of the shops are primarily positioned in Europe and different east Asian international locations.
Reputation in India
Although fashionable, Apple’s enlargement in India has been restricted, primarily because of the excessive costs of its merchandise. Whereas within the US and China, the market share of iOS-based merchandise is 57% and 24%, respectively, in India market share is proscribed to six%. Nonetheless, regardless of the excessive value, Apple has been capable of carve a distinct segment for its merchandise within the nation. Apple’s iPhone 13, with a price ticket of ₹60,000+, featured among the many best-selling smartphones in January 2023, in an inventory dominated by price range telephones.
Chinese language monopoly
The manufacturing hub for Apple merchandise is concentrated in Jap Asia, with China main the way in which. The nation is house to 150 of the 191 suppliers and contributes over 94% of the overall Apple merchandise. A number of different international locations in Jap and Southeastern Asia are additionally a part of Apple’s provide chain.
India enlargement
A strict covid-induced lockdown final yr and Beijing’s strained relations with Washington have prompted the US-based tech big to search for manufacturing choices exterior China. In January this yr, the state authorities of Karnataka introduced it might allocate land to Foxconn, the most important producer of Apple’s iPhones, to arrange a manufacturing facility within the state.
