New Delhi, Nov. 29 -- Apple on Friday announced it will open its fifth retail outlet in India on 11 December in Noida's DLF Mall of India - marking its second store in the National Capital Region after Delhi, which opened in April 2023. The move aligns with Apple chief Tim Cook's earlier remarks about adding four more stores in India beyond Mumbai and Delhi. This will be Apple's third store opening in 2025, following launches in Bengaluru on 2 September and Pune on 4 September. Apple opened its first two company-owned stores in Mumbai and Delhi in April 2023. Apple's fifth store comes as India has continued to be on the rise for Apple. As a retail market, Apple is expected to sell 15.5 million iPhones in the country this calendar year, bringing its market share by volume above 10% for the first time ever. On 11 November, market tracker IDC reported that Apple hit its highest-ever rank in India to become the country's fourth-highest smartphone seller by volume, with a 25% year-on-year rise in sales to nearly 5 million units in the September quarter alone. Cook has repeatedly called out India as a standout market for Apple, which has recorded record quarterly revenues in India for 15 straight quarters now. On 30 January, during the company's post-earnings analyst call for the last fiscal's December quarter, Cook had said, "I'm particularly keen on India. India set a December quarter record during the quarter. And we're opening more stores there. We've announced that we're going to open four new stores there." "The iPhone was the top-selling model in India for the quarter. And it's the second largest smartphone market in the world and the third largest for PCs and tablets, and so there's a huge market. And we have a very modest share in these markets, and so I think there's lots of upside there," he added. A sixth store, already in plans at Apple, is unlikely to be opened this calendar year itself, a person aware of developments said. "There is a sixth store already in plans, but the official opening of it will only take place beyond the calendar year," the person added. However, he did not confirm if the same would be opened by the ongoing fiscal year-only adding that the opening date for Apple's sixth outlet is "well beyond" the current calendar year....