IPhone 16 Sales Ban Remains In Indonesia; Officials Reject Offers

Last October, Indonesia banned the sale of the iPhone 16 series, Apple Watch Series 10, and other products because Apple failed to comply with local regulations. Authorities require that products sold in the country include at least 40% of “domestic content.” In a recent development, Indonesia upholds the iPhone 16 sales ban because Apple still fails to meet the requirements.

Indonesia upholds iPhone 16 sales ban after rejecting $1 billion investment offer

Apparently, Apple’s strategy to try to comply with local laws did not meet the authorities’ expectations. Rosan Roeslani, Indonesia’s investment minister, said this week that Apple planned to invest up to $1 billion to set up factories for AirTag devices on Batam Island. The new factories would be responsible for 65% of the global supply of the product.

Although the offer seems quite generous, local authorities were expecting something different. Agus Gumiwang, Indonesia’s industry minister, said that an AirTag “is an accessory, not a part or component of gadgets.” Basically, local regulation stipulates that only hardware and software components for products count. AirTags are products in themselves, so their manufacturing does not affect the iPhone 16 or other banned devices.

“Until this afternoon, the ministry doesn’t have any reason to issue the domestic component level certificate for Apple products, especially iPhone 16,” Gumiwang said. Meetings between government officials and Apple executives have not yielded any results. Authorities offered a counterproposal to Apple, but more specific details are not known. However, the Cupertino giant did not immediately respond to it. This suggests that Apple was not too keen on the conditions.

In November of last year, Apple offered to invest an extra $100 million in the country to get the certification. However, this proposal was not enough for Indonesian officials either.

Google Pixel phones sales are also banned in the country

Indonesia is not among the main markets for iPhones worldwide. Only time will tell if Apple continues to try to obtain the license to sell the iPhone 16 series. Currently, the sale of Google Pixel devices is also banned in the country due to the same “local tech use” requirement. It seems that the big companies considered the country’s requirements a bit excessive.