Apple Opens First Retail Store in India as It Looks to Country for Manufacturing

Apple Inc. opened its first retail store in India Tuesday, with Chief Executive Tim Cook celebrating the launch in person, as the company ramps up efforts to diversify its supply chain and boost smartphone sales in the world’s most populous country.

The tech company opened a bricks-and-mortar location in Mumbai, a financial hub in India, and said it is planning to open a second location Thursday in New Delhi, India’s capital.

Mr. Cook said earlier this year that he was focused on India, where Apple has been using financing options and trade-ins to make its products more affordable compared with cheaper alternatives from China.

“India is [a] hugely exciting market for us and is a major focus,” he said on Apple’s earnings call in February.

Fuelling Apple’s push into India is an ambitious project to diversify more of its supply chain away from China. For more than 20 years, Apple’s primary base of manufacturing has been China. But recent turmoil in its China operations has propelled Apple to more aggressively move operations to other countries, such as Vietnam and India, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Outside of China, India is viewed by Apple as the main candidate for producing the iPhone, the company’s most important product that still accounts for roughly half of its sales. India currently accounts for less than 10% of global iPhone production, mostly for selling into the domestic market. Apple’s longer-term goal is to produce 40% to 45% of its iPhones from India, according to Ming-chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities who follows the supply chain.

Apple has encountered problems of building up iPhone manufacturing in India, the Journal previously reported. India doesn’t have the same level top-down governmental coordination that is found in China, which has previously helped clear the way for Apple to build up operations to the scale it needs in the country.

Apple’s main manufacturing partner, Foxconn Technology Group, is also considering a major expansion into India, including expanding iPhone production in an existing plant near Chennai, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the Journal reported last month.

Apple has struggled to gain traction in India, where the company previously had mostly been selling its products online or through resellers and retail chains.

India is the world’s second-biggest smartphone market, both in terms of annual shipments and sales, according to market intelligence firm IDC. It accounts for almost 12% of the global market.

The retail stores are among Apple’s first steps to try to increase its sales in India. Apple is projected to have a 5% share of the country’s overall smartphone market this year, up from 1% in 2019, according to Counterpoint Research.

The multi storey Mumbai shop is in a bustling commercial area. Apple said the store will use solar panels and renewable energy. It is expected to be one of the company’s most energy-efficient locations. The company has more than 520 stores worldwide, according to its website.

Mr. Cook tweeted a picture of himself outside the Mumbai store on Tuesday, saying, “The energy, creativity, and passion in Mumbai is incredible!”

The boom in casual footware ushered in by the pandemic has ended, a potential problem for companies such as Adidas that benefited from the shift to less formal clothing, Bank of America says.

The casual footwear business has been on the ropes since mid-2023 as people began returning to office.

Analyst Thierry Cota wrote that while most downcycles have lasted one to two years over the past two decades or so, the current one is different.

It “shows no sign of abating” and there is “no turning point in sight,” he said.

Adidas and Nike alone account for almost 60% of revenue in the casual footwear industry, Cota estimated, so the sector’s slower growth could be especially painful for them as opposed to brands that have a stronger performance-shoe segment. Adidas may just have it worse than Nike.

Cota downgraded Adidas stock to Underperform from Buy on Tuesday and slashed his target for the stock price to €160 (about $187) from €213. He doesn’t have a rating for Nike stock.

Shares of Adidas listed on the German stock exchange fell 4.5% Tuesday to €162.25. Nike stock was down 1.2%.

Adidas didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cota sees trouble for Adidas both in the short and long term.

Adidas’ lifestyle segment, which includes the Gazelles and Sambas brands, has been one of the company’s fastest-growing business, but there are signs growth is waning.

Lifestyle sales increased at a 10% annual pace in Adidas’ third quarter, down from 13% in the second quarter.

The analyst now predicts Adidas’ organic sales will grow by a 5% annual rate starting in 2027, down from his prior forecast of 7.5%.

The slower revenue growth will likewise weigh on profitability, Cota said, predicting that margins on earnings before interest and taxes will decline back toward the company’s long-term average after several quarters of outperforming. That could result in a cut to earnings per share.

Adidas stock had a rough 2025. Shares shed 33% in the past 12 months, weighed down by investor concerns over how tariffs, slowing demand, and increased competition would affect revenue growth.

Nike stock fell 9% throughout the period, reflecting both the company’s struggles with demand and optimism over a turnaround plan CEO Elliott Hill rolled out in late 2024.

Investors’ confidence has faded following Nike’s December earnings report, which suggested that a sustained recovery is still several quarters away. Just how many remains anyone’s guess.

But if Adidas’ challenges continue, as Cota believes they will, it could open up some space for Nike to claw back any market share it lost to its rival.

Investors should keep in mind, however, that the field has grown increasingly crowded in the past five years. Upstarts such as On Holding and Hoka also present a formidable challenge to the sector’s legacy brands.

Shares of On and Deckers Outdoor , Hoka’s parent company, fell 11% and 48%, respectively, in 2025, but analysts are upbeat about both companies’ fundamentals as the new year begins.

The battle of the sneakers is just getting started.

Apple Opens First Retail Store in India as It Looks to Country for Manufacturing

The iPhone maker aims to diversify supply chain and boost sales in a country where it has struggled to gain traction

The pandemic-fuelled love affair with casual footwear is fading, with Bank of America warning the downturn shows no sign of easing.