Indonesia has banned the sales of Apple’s iPhone 16. According to sources, the Indonesian government made this decision due to Apple’s failure to meet its agreed investment commitments.
Apple had pledged to invest 1.7 trillion rupiah in partnership with local firms in Indonesia but only invested 1.48 trillion rupiah. As a result, Apple has not been granted permission to sell the new iPhone 16.
Indonesia has banned the sales of Apple’s iPhone 16. According to sources, the Indonesian government made this decision due to Apple’s failure to meet its agreed investment commitments. Apple had pledged to invest 1.7 trillion rupiah in partnership with local firms in Indonesia, but only invested 1.48 trillion rupiah. As a result, Apple has not been granted permission to sell the new iPhone 16.
Apple’s new phone was officially launched on September 20, alongside a flurry of other products, but these new offerings remain unavailable in Indonesia.
The Southeast Asian nation has been pushing Apple to increase its local content by partnering with domestic firms. CEO Tim Cook said during a visit to Jakarta in April that the company would consider building a manufacturing facility in Indonesia, following a meeting with President Joko Widodo.
“We talked about the president’s desire to see manufacturing in the country, and it is something that we will look at,” Cook told reporters after the meeting.
Apple currently has no manufacturing facilities in Indonesia, but since 2018, it has been setting up research and development facilities, also known as developer academies, at a total cost of 1.6 trillion rupiah.
For now, Indonesian consumers have been left frustrated by the unavailability of Apple’s latest products.
Jessica Wijanto, a 28-year-old interior designer based in Bandung, told This Week in Asia that it was “annoying” to have to wait longer to be able to buy the new iPhone.
“A lot of people still use Android or Chinese phones, but more and more of my friends are switching to Apple phones, it’s becoming more common in Indonesia,” she said. “So they should work with the government and make it accessible.”
Meanwhile, Renaldi Gunawan, a 27-year-old marketing professional from Jakarta, said he was unlikely to wait for the iPhone to be available locally.
“I have family or friends who will buy the phone [for me] in Singapore or in Hong Kong, and that is easier than waiting for it,” he said. “Sometimes the cost is better too because the import fee is high here.”