Apple CEO Tim Cook today officially inaugurated the company’s first retail store in India, opening its doors, welcoming the first customers, and posing for selfies outside Apple BKC.

The new flagship store is situated in the country’s financial capital of Mumbai, located in a high-end shopping mall at Bandra-Kurla Complex – hence ‘BKC’ in the title – in the city’s main business district. Apple says it is one of the most energy-efficient Apple Store locations in the world, with a dedicated solar array and zero reliance on fossil fuels for store operations. The store is operationally carbon neutral, running on 100% renewable energy.

The store opening is the culmination of sustained efforts by Apple to meet regulators’ demands, which included making some of its products locally. Apple is set to open another store in the capital New Delhi on Thursday, and Cook is scheduled to attend. Cook is also expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit. It is the Apple CEO’s first trip to India in seven years.

Until now, Apple products have been sold in India either online or through Apple’s regional website or through a network of resellers. Beyond bringing Apple branding cachet, the physical stores will offer a premium buying experience in a country where the premium smartphone market is relatively untapped. Only about 4% of India’s nearly 700 million smartphone users have iPhones, with the majority owning low-cost Android phones.

Apple’s sales in India hit a new high of almost $6 billion in the year through March. Revenue in India grew by nearly 50%, from $4.1 billion a year earlier, according to a source with knowledge of the matter cited by Bloomberg.

Apple has been working to build out a manufacturing supply chain in India, which is home to the world’s second biggest smartphone market. In an indication of the country’s perceived importance as a production hub, Apple shifted iPhone 14 assembly from China to India in the weeks following its release.

Popular Stories

All-New Apple CarPlay Launching This Year Starting With These 14 Automakers

In June 2022, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, personalization options, and more. Apple says the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience will be announced in late 2023, with at least 14 automakers committed so far. Comm…

watchOS 10 Described as Apple Watch’s Biggest Software Update Since 2015

watchOS 10 will be the Apple Watch’s biggest software update since the initial version of the operating system was released in 2015, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Apple is expected to announce watchOS 10 alongside iOS 17, macOS 14, and other new software during its annual WWDC keynote on June 5. In his newsletter today, Gurman said watchOS 10 will be a “major” update with “bigger…

Apple Card Savings Account Available Starting Today With 4.15% Interest Rate

Apple today announced that the long-awaited Apple Card Savings feature is available starting today with an initial APY of 4.15%. The savings account has no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The feature allows Apple Card users to open a high-yield savings account from Goldman Sachs in the Wallet app on…

Gurman: New MacBooks Will Be Announced at WWDC in June

Apple is working on a larger 15-inch MacBook Air, an updated 13-inch MacBook Air, and an updated 13-inch MacBook Pro, and at least some of these new laptops will be announced at WWDC in June, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. In his newsletter today, Gurman said the new MacBooks coming at WWDC “probably won’t” feature Apple’s next-generation M3 chip, and will instead be powered by…

Top Stories: iPhone 15 Pro and iOS 17 Rumors, Apple Card Savings Coming Soon, and More

It’s been a crazy few weeks of flip-flopping rumors, and while some of them will be resolved in a couple of months at WWDC, we may have to wait until September or beyond for the full picture to emerge on others. This week saw back-and-forth reports about the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max volume buttons and mute switch/button. as well as the fate of a fourth-generation iPhone SE, plus we got some …

iOS 17: Seven Features That Might Be Coming to the iPhone This Fall

With less than two months to go until the Worldwide Developers Conference, rumors about Apple’s next-generation version of iOS have been picking up. iOS 17 isn’t expected to have a major headline feature like iOS 16’s Lock Screen, but there are some notable refinements in the works. In fact, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who often provides reliable details on Apple’s plans, says that iOS 17 will…

When Will Apple Launch the iPad Mini 7?

Apple launched the sixth-generation iPad mini in September 2021, bringing the first major redesign to the device in its entire history – but when is the seventh-generation model expected to launch? While Apple updated the iPad mini annually from 2012 to 2016, updates thereafter became more infrequent, with just one minor refresh in March 2019 before 2021’s redesign. As a device that now…

Kroger Begins Accepting Apple Pay After Years of Holding Out

Kroger this week began accepting Apple Pay and other contactless payment methods at select locations in Kentucky and Ohio, allowing customers to tap to pay with an iPhone or Apple Watch at checkout, according to customers on Reddit and Twitter. It’s unclear how many Kroger locations are now accepting Apple Pay, or if NFC-based payments will be expanded to all of the over 1,200 grocery stores …