Apple is building its first non-U.S. technology development center in India and plans to start its operations in the latter part of 2016.
Apple will invest $25 million in a 250,000 square feet of space in the Indian city of Hyderabad for its office and may employ around 4,500 people. The company said that its office will also be home to more than 150 Apple Maps development employees and to several contractors who will be working with Apple side by side in order to achieve the company's goals in the South Asian country.
Apple's decision to invest in India shouldn't come as a surprise. With a population of more than 1.3 billion, India now enjoys a technological boom and is seeing an impressive growth on its smartphone industry as well as the Internet.
India is also now considered the world's second largest smartphone market in the world. According to senior analyst Tarun Pathak of Counterpoint Research, the country's smartphone user base increased by up to 220 million toward the end of 2015, an achievement that surpassed the United States' user base for the first time.
Apple reportedly sold more than 2 million iPhones in India, including the company's previous-generation handsets of 2015. While its iPhones enjoyed popularity in the country, some consumers found it difficult to purchase the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus because of the handsets' high launch price. As a result, Apple decided to slash the price of the handsets nearly a month after their official launch.
In India, Apple's iPhone sales volumes reached up to 76 percent of growth compared to the 45 percent growth volume that was achieved in Korea, Africa and the Middle East. The percentage record in India is also relatively higher than what was achieved in a number of western European countries and in mainland China, where growth is measured at 20 percent and 18 percent respectively.
Earlier this month, news surfaced that Apple is on the verge of getting a nod from the regulators in India on the company's plan to open and run its physical shops in the country. Currently, the company sells its devices such as iPhones, iPads and Macs through various third-party resellers.
Apart from Apple, other major tech companies are also planning to start their operations in the southern Indian state of Telangana. Google's CEO Sundar Pichai announced the company's plan to open the biggest campus of South Asia in Hyderabad, which will also be its sole headquarters outside the United States. Microsoft will also be expanding its operations in the same area.
