Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Check out the stunning design of Apple’s newest retail store

Apple’s latest retail store has a design quite unlike any others we’ve seen from the tech giant.

Set to open its doors to customers in Singapore’s Marina Bay on Thursday, September 10, the extraordinary dome-shaped site appears to float on water, while a dramatic backdrop is provided by the city-state’s dazzling skyline.

On Monday the company posted the first photos of the store’s interior. You can see them in the gallery below.

Apple describes its new, spherical store as “a first-of-its-kind, all-glass dome structure that is fully self-supported, comprised of 114 pieces of glass with only 10 narrow vertical mullions for structural connection.”

The unique design allows natural light to flood in, and it even has small trees lining its interior.

“We couldn’t be more excited to open the breathtaking Apple Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, building on our commitment to this special place that began more than 40 years ago,” said Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail and People.

When it opens later this week, Apple will have three stores operating in Singapore. The first one opened on Orchard Road in 2017, followed by a second at Jewel Changi Airport in 2019.

Apple’s latest store opening comes at a difficult time for the retail industry as lockdowns and other measures linked to the coronavirus pandemic prompt an increasing number of people to do their shopping online.

In March 2020, the iPhone maker took the decision to temporarily shutter all of its stores outside of China due to the virus. Since then, it’s been opening and closing its retail sites according to local conditions regarding the severity of the pandemic.

As part of efforts to protect staff and customers, anyone entering an Apple Store is now asked to wear a mask and also submit to a touchless temperature check. To ensure social distancing can comfortably take place, limits have also been placed on how many people are allowed in the store at any one time, while all tabletops and other areas are being regularly sanitized, too.

The opening of Apple’s Singapore store also comes in the same week that we’re expecting to hear details of the iPhone 12 unveiling event.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Apple’s mixed-reality headset is running out of time
A virtual reality (VR) headset sitting on a desk.

Recent weeks have seen a huge upsurge in news surrounding Apple’s heavily rumored mixed-reality headset, with leaks speculating on its release date, power capabilities, and even its name. Yet rather than clarify the device, these tidbits have just served to muddy the waters. Assessing the situation, it feels like Apple’s headset is just as ephemeral as it has always been.

The problem is that no one can seem to agree on what the device will actually bring to the table. We know people will wear it on their head, but that’s about the only detail that seems to be actually nailed down. And for a mixed-reality headset, it doesn’t exactly require Sherlock Holmes to work that one out.

Read more
Check out the shopping experience at Amazon’s new retail clothing store
The interior of an Amazon Style store.

Amazon does very well with its online clothing sales, but physical clothes stores still sweep up most of the business.

Keen as ever for a piece of the pie, the e-commerce giant has unveiled plans for its first-ever retail clothing store for men and women, selling garments, shoes, and accessories from well-known brands as well as emerging designers.

Read more
Apple’s 2022 iPad will keep old design with 5G and A14 chip
The iPad 10.2 on a table.

A new entry-level iPad is coming later this year, and might possibly be unveiled alongside the iPhone 14 series. According to Dylan (@dylandkt), the 10th-gen iPad is slated for an official introduction towards the end of 2022. So, what’s changing this time around? Not much, actually.

Potential buyers are in line for the customary generation-over-generation chip upgrade. In this case, the silicon upgrade is still lagging by a whole generation. The 2022 iPad refresh will reportedly come equipped with an A14 Bionic chip. The 6th-gen iPad Mini that came out last year offers the faster A15 Bionic processor, the same system on a chip that also serves as the brains inside the iPhone 13 series phones.

Read more