Scuffle breaks out in Mumbai as iPhone 17 launch draws early-morning crowds

Sale of the new series of iPhones started on Friday, with excited customers queuing up outside the country's first Apple Store since early hours and even indulging in a scuffle before its opening.

Like with the launch of any new model, excited customers started queuing up outside the store at the Jio World Drive mall in the Bandra Kurla Complex business district in the wee hours.

A little before 6 am, a scuffle broke out among some of the customers who had queued up, prompting the security personnel to intervene.

Visuals show a group of Apple customers exchanging blows and being taken away by both private and government security personnel. The police was also forced to resort to mild caning and dragged the miscreants out.

As per the city police, there were about 300 customers in two different lines outside the Apple Store and the minor scuffle erupted because one person tried to break into the queue.

Once the store opened at the designated time of 8 am, it was a smooth flow with customers going in and quickly picking up units of their desired model.

"Every year, I stand in line from 3 am to buy the newest model. I have been very excited about the model and had been waiting for it for the past six months," said Aman Memon, among the first customers, who bought three units for him and family.

Memon told PTI that the colour features of the new phone, along with a newer bionic chip is a big draw for him.

In the run up to the retailing of the newest series launched earlier this month in the US, Apple had put up a unique marketing display outside the store and its chief executive Tim Cook has even shared a picture of the Mumbai store over his social media handle.

The iPhone 17 prices start at nearly Rs 83,000 and go up as per the model.