‘Isko Padma Shri milna chahiye!’ Meet the man who waited 21 hours to be the first inside Apple’s Mumbai store

Apple’s iPhone 17 series went on sale in India today, drawing massive crowds and chaotic scenes at Apple stores in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.

In Mumbai, excitement reached fever pitch at Apple’s flagship BKC store, which saw a huge turnout of eager buyers. But the rush soon turned unruly — a scuffle broke out among people waiting in line, forcing security to step in as fistfights briefly disrupted the queue.

Amid the chaos, one man made headlines for his sheer dedication. News agency PTI shared a video of him claiming to be the first person to enter the Apple store after waiting outside for a staggering 21 hours.


Interestingly, this isn’t his first time — he did the same last year, waiting 17 hours to be the first through the doors.

“I am super excited,” he told PTI, praising Apple staff for maintaining order. On the iPhone 17, he said, “There are a lot of new features, like the new camera.”

iPhone 17 Series: What’s New

Apple has announced the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, the top models in its new iPhone 17 lineup, alongside the regular iPhone 17 and all-new iPhone Air.

The Pro returns to an aluminium build, adds the biggest battery of any iPhone yet, and boasts what Apple is calling a "full-width camera plateau" on the back as per the live event, which was broadcast on Apple's website and YouTube channel on September 9.

The iPhone 17 Pro starts from 1,099 USD, with the Pro Max starting at 1,199 USD, both with 256GB of storage, according to The Verge.

The apparent change this year is a dramatic redesign of the rear camera module, which now stretches all the way across the body, rather than only containing the lenses.

It's still a triple camera within that new camera island, though there's been one major upgrade. For the first time this year, Pro models feature 48-megapixel sensors across all three cameras, reported The Verge.

The telephoto is the lens getting a bump here, with a significant resolution improvement from the 12-megapixel telephoto lens found on last year's models.

It's not only higher resolution, the telephoto packs a 56 per cent larger sensor too, and Apple says it can deliver up to 8x optical quality zoom, reported The Verge.

The 6.3-inch Pro and 6.9-inch Pro Max come in only three colours: silver, blue, and an eye-catching orange that's much more colourful than the previous Pro models.