Apple opened its first two stores in India this week, in New Delhi and Mumbai. CEO Tim Cook attended both openings in the country that has long eluded Apple's business. Indians have in the past opted mostly for cheaper electronics, for example smartphones from Chinese brands.
After having earned the privilege under Indian law to sell directly to consumers by opening up an assembly facility in the country in 2019, Apple had first launched an online store in 2020. Back then, sales of iPhones already jumped up. By assembling phones in India, the company is also avoiding steep import fees, which is making its products more affordable in the country. Yet, iPhones and MacBooks remain out of the reach of many, including many urban Indian surveyed online by Statista.
In line with Apple's more heavy online presence in the country, respondents were more likely to have purchased digital Apple products or products from a digital Apple store in 2022. Between 13 and 15 percent of urban Indians said they were or had been a Apple Music or Apple TV+ customer in the past 12 months, while 12 percent said the had ordered from Apple.com in India. A more affordable Apple product, headphones like EarPods and AirPods, was the physical product reaching most consumers in India - 12 percent -, closely followed by the iPhone, the Apple Watch and the iPad at 11 percent. Fewer people had MacBooks and stationary Mac computers available to them (measured on a household level): 6-8 percent.
