As previously reported, Indonesia wants to ban Apple from selling the iPhone 16 series and it's now in effect. According to Bloomberg, Apple did not meet its local investments by around $15 million. With that, even the Apple Watch Series 10 and other newer Apple devices were banned as well.
Since Apple failed to meet the requirements, the Ministry of Industry did not issue any certifications for any latest Apple products to be sold in Indonesia. However, older Apple devices are not affected by the ban. Indonesian officials have noted that there are around 9,000 iPhone 16 units, which have been brought in by crew and passengers, or mailed from foreign countries. Current iPhone 16 owners in Indonesia can still use it personally but the devices cannot be resold.
Not only did Apple fail to meet the investment requirement but also Indonesia's local content rules. Bloomberg said certain devices must contain at least 40% domestic content, which means using materials in the country, having manufacturing plants or employing local workers. Apple is looking into setting up a manufacturing facility there, but it has already established four developer academies in Indonesia.
Despite Apple's popularity, the brand is not even in the top six most popular phone brands in Indonesia (according to Bloomberg). Nonetheless, there is still room for improvement as Indonesia is becoming a tech-savvy country thanks to the upcoming generation.
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