Here is a timeline of Apple’s 15-year journey in India, starting with the release of the iPhone 3G in 2008 and ending with the inauguration of the company’s first store in Mumbai.
It took Apple Inc. 15 years from the time it first began selling the iPhone in India to having a company-run retail shop in what is now the second-largest smartphone market in the world, a market where it has encountered numerous commercial difficulties.
Here is a timeline of Apple’s history in India, where the country’s contract manufacturers are increasingly producing iPhones as the company establishes its first retail locations.
August 2008: saw the release of the iPhone 3G in India without the public outcry and long lines that accompanied its introduction in the United States, Europe, and other regions of Asia.
January 2016: Apple submits a request to the Indian authorities in January 2016 to open its own outlets there.
May 2016: saw the first meeting between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi as the business considered its expansion plans.
June 2016: In June 2016, India loosened its restrictions on foreign retailers’ involvement, paving the path for global brands like Apple and IKEA to open stores there.
May 2017: Apple began domestic iPhone assembly for the first time in India at Bengaluru with its iPhone SE model under a contract with contract maker Wistron.
September 2020: In September 2020, during India’s Christmas shopping season, Apple Inc. opened its first online store.
October 2020: As part of a federal initiative to increase domestic smartphone production, India authorized incentives for 16 companies, including prominent Apple suppliers.
December 2020: Following a protest over unpaid wages, contract workers at the Wistron factory in Bengaluru, an Apple supplier, vandalized the establishment. Apple placed the plant on probation before allowing it to resume manufacturing two months later.
December 2021: After more than 250 female employees who live in one of the business dorms were treated for food poisoning, protests broke out at the Foxconn plant in Tamil Nadu. The facility was shut down for more than three weeks when Apple discovered that the facilities did not satisfy the necessary standards.
December 2021: According to India’s competition authority, the company’s in-app charge scheme appears to have broken some antitrust rules. The competition watchdog requests an investigation into this.
September 2022: Pegatron, an Apple supplier, opened its first iPhone assembly facility in Tamil Nadu state in September 2022.
February 2023: Foxlink, an Apple supplier that makes iPhone chargers, temporarily halted operations at its assembly factory in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in February 2023 after a significant fire caused a portion of the structure to collapse.
