Buoyed by the success of its flagship stores in India, Apple is planning new retail stores in Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai in the near future. Meanwhile, Apple announced that it is “now manufacturing the entire iPhone 16 lineup, including iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, in India.” Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail, said: “We are thrilled to build our teams as we plan to open more stores in India, because we are inspired by the creativity and passion of our customers across this country. We can’t wait for them to have even more opportunities to discover and shop for our amazing products and services, and connect with our extraordinary, knowledgeable team members.” In April 2023, Apple opened its first store in India at BKC in Mumbai and followed it up with another a day later at Saket in New Delhi. "Our stores are incredible places to experience the magic of Apple, and it’s been wonderful to deepen our connection with our customers in India,” O’Brien added. It is not clear when the new stores will open, or the exact locations of the same. However, given that an Apple Store tries to recreate the feel of a town square, the stores will surely come up at prime locations in these cities. The iPhone 16 lineup, launched last month, will be manufactured in India for the local market as well as for limited export markets, it is learnt. The iPhone SE was the first Apple device to be manufactured in India in 2017. Apple now has multiple manufacturing partners, mostly in southern India. The company also has 3,000 employees in the country and has suppliers employing thousands more. As part of its stated goal to be fully carbon neutral for its supply chain and products by 2030, Apple recently announced a joint venture with CleanMax to provide additional clean energy capacity and a solution to power Apple's offices as well as the existing two retail stores, and corporate operations in India.
