Apple’s first Indian retail store to offer in-house servicing through Genius Bay

The in-store servicing facilities, called ‘Genius Bay’, will feature trained professionals offering troubleshooting advice to customers. Appointments for service can be booked through Apple’s official India website.

The company announced the move at a pre-launch media event for the Mumbai outlet, located in the Bandra-Kurla Complex business district, marking Apple’s first commercial operation in India. Additional stores are slated to open in Delhi on April 20 and in Bengaluru soon after, according to a Business Standard report.

While industry experts welcome the change, they note that it is not a significant departure from Apple’s previous operations in India. Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint India, said the service center model will remain the same as before the store’s opening. Device repairs and servicing will still be handled by third-party vendors, while Apple will offer a trade-in program in the store itself.

Pathak added that Apple’s existing third-party retail network in India will not be significantly disrupted by its own stores. The main difference, he said, will be an improved customer experience at Apple-owned locations. These stores are also expected to offer a wider range of devices, color options, and variants under one roof.

Despite the opening of its own retail outlets, Apple’s market share is not expected to be affected, but its brand positioning may be impacted. Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president at IDC India, suggested that the company’s own retail outlets may “eventually cannibalize” some large-format retail sales, though device availability will likely be better at its own stores compared to third-party outlets.

Apple’s own stores are also likely to feature a larger collection of devices from its portfolio, in terms of the overall colour options and the choice of variants available under one roof.

On April 5, Mint reported that while the opening of its own retail outlets may not impact its market share, Apple’s opening of its store may impact its overall brand positioning in the country. Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president at market researcher IDC India, told Mint that the company’s own retail outlets may “eventually cannibalize” some of its large-format retail sales in the country, but projected “device and variant availability” to be better at its own stores, than at third-party-run ones.

Apple’s stores were rumored to open for a long time, and come at a time when the company’s market share and shipments in India are at a record high. According to data shared with Mint by IDC India, Apple is likely to have shipped an estimated 6.5 million iPhones last year, a record for the company, and up by 35% annually.

According to Counterpoint data published on January 27, Apple also had a record December quarter — ranking sixth in device shipment rankings and accounting for 8% of all smartphones shipped to India during the period. The company’s shipments in India grew, albeit from a much lower base than the top five smartphone brands, even as overall smartphone shipments in the country fell by 27% annually during the December quarter.