Apple Banned From Selling iPhone 16 Models in Indonesia

Apple has been blocked from selling iPhone 16 models in Indonesia after it failed to meet the country's domestic investment requirements (via Bloomberg).

iphone 16 apple intelligence
According to a statement dated October 25 from the Indonesian Ministry of Industry, the phones cannot be marketed domestically because local unit PT Apple Indonesia failed to fulfill the country's 40% local content requirements for smartphones.

Apple has invested approximately 1.5 trillion rupiah ($95 million) in Indonesia, but it committed to an investment target of 1.7 trillion rupiah. Apple's focus has been on building developer academies in the region instead of establishing local manufacturing facilities, according to the report.

The setback comes at a time when Apple has seen strong iPhone sales globally, especially in China. Indonesia in particular is a significant market for Apple – the country's $1 trillion economy has over 350 million active mobile phones among its 270 million residents.

Approximately 9,000 iPhone 16 units have entered Indonesia through personal imports by passengers, crew members, or postal delivery, but these devices are strictly limited to personal use and cannot be sold commercially, according to ministry officials.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

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Top Rated Comments

Fuzzball84 Avatar
18 weeks ago
Didn’t Apple Intelligence see this coming?
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Glenny2lappies Avatar
18 weeks ago
Wow, a rather political issue that's a classic protectionist action with potentially negative outcomes.

How can ANY phone manufacturer fulfill the 40% requirement?!?
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
doobydoooby Avatar
18 weeks ago
What an awful message for Indonesia to be sending to the world.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hagar Avatar
18 weeks ago

Wow, a rather political issue that's a classic protectionist action with potentially negative outcomes.

How can ANY phone manufacturer fulfill the 40% requirement?!?
Yes. Indonesia first! I wonder who they got that idea from?
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hagar Avatar
18 weeks ago

What a stupid policy in the first place.
It’s clearly Indonesia First. It only seems stupid when another country does it ;-)
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Biro Avatar
18 weeks ago

Wow, a rather political issue that's a classic protectionist action with potentially negative outcomes.

How can ANY phone manufacturer fulfill the 40% requirement?!?
Exactly. It’s a significant market for Apple but I think caving to this would be a very bad precident.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)