Apple Banned From Selling iPhone 16 Models in Indonesia

[MacRumors]

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

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.

Article Link: Apple Banned From Selling iPhone 16 Models in Indonesia

 

[Fuzzball84]

Didn’t Apple Intelligence see this coming?

 

[Glenny2lappies]

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

How can ANY phone manufacturer fulfill the 40% requirement?!?

 

[Biro]

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.

 

[macfacts]

Didn’t Apple Intelligence see this coming?

AI can only see patterns in past data not predict the future.

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

Ok so Apple will invest another 10m to meet requirement. I think they can manage that lol. Bloomberg looking for that Monday morning shock and awe are failing hard.

 

[ultrakyo]

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

How can ANY phone manufacturer fulfill the 40% requirement?!?

Currently the Indonesian government allows the 40% local content either in the form of internal component or financial investment. Apple currently opt for investment option but I think that is a bit dumb because it just means Apple is paying the cost upfront while the consumer has to bear the extra cost when purchasing Apple product. Currently Apple product in Indonesia is about 20-30% more than the US before taxes.

 

[doobydoooby]

What an awful message for Indonesia to be sending to the world.

 

[Glenny2lappies]

Exactly. It’s a significant market for Apple but I think caving to this would be a very bad precident.

Next step, "reparations" for what the Dutch did hundreds of years ago!

 

[chineseguy38]

Poor Tim Apple. Less money for his pocket.

 

[hagar]

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?

 

[Lyrics23]

Exactly. It’s a significant market for Apple but I think caving to this would be a very bad precident.

Quite the opposite: Apple made a commitment, and it’s on Apple to meet that.

No matter what you think of the requirements of the commitment itself, Apple still made that commitment. It would be a much worse precedent for Apple to not meet its commitments.

Edit: Apple’s $13m shortfall is insignificant to Apple; the value of a trustworthy reputation vastly exceeds that.

 

[laptech]

There is a difference between wanting to 'operate' in a country and 'sell' goods in a country. LCR's need to be used for the right reasons and not be used as a form of blackmail to prevent companies from selling their goods in a country.

 

[Lyrics23]

What an awful message for Indonesia to be sending to the world.

A far worse message from Indonesia would be to become known as a country where its laws and regulations mean nothing.

These happen to be the requirements to operate in Indonesia, and like them or not, it’s much better for Indonesia to ensure companies meet those requirements than allow companies to flout them.

 

[picpicmac]

and not be used as a form of blackmail

Unfortunately any nation can have leaders who see it as their prerogative to force foreign business to pay to play.

I understand in some circumstances that might be the right thing to do for people of said nation, but it really shouldn't be a basic policy if one wants to build a reputation for a country as interested in new things.

 

[Radeon85]

What a stupid policy in the first place.

 

[papersushi]

How can ANY phone manufacturer fulfill the 40% requirement?!?

Most other phone manufacturers chose to build phone assemblies line factories in Indonesia, such as Samsung, Oppo, Samsung, Xiaomi etc. Mostly for its low to mid range of products, it won't be cost effective to build assembly lines for flagship products due to the volume. They are allowed for certain allowances of flagship products to be imported each year when you have local assembly lines.

Additionally, Indonesian local mobile operators are IMEI white list enforced, phones brought from outside of Indonesia can't use local SIM cards due to IMEI not on the government approved whitelist. Tourist are allowed to unblock it for unto three months, anything longer than 3 months have to pay the import tax at the custom when you land at the airport before it's unlocked permanently (putting your IMEI into custom system)

 

[hagar]

What a stupid policy in the first place.

It’s clearly Indonesia First. It only seems stupid when another country does it ;-)

 

[macfacts]

Yes. Indonesia first! I wonder who they got that idea from?

From India and it worked.

 

[Marbles1]

Good for Indonesia. Get investment to help the huge working / lower class find work and benefit, and meanwhile Indonesia's comparatively rich middle and upper classes can still afford to buy an iPhone.

We'll see this behaviour from all large population rapidly developing nations. And tbh, once countries like Indonesia achieve parity with other developed countries, with an absolutely huge middle class happy to spend money, they'll be calling the shots.

e.g. Imagine India, with levels of development around that of Germany, except India has 1billion people. It might take another 50-100 years but the countries with the most consumers will be setting the agenda.

 

[Digital Dude]

It seems like Apple spends more time in court and a significant amount of money resolving these kinds of issues. Maybe that’s why there’s so little focus on innovation and software refinement. ⚖️

 

[aParkerMusic]

It’s clearly Indonesia First. It only seems stupid when another country does it ;-)

It’s not universally ”stupid” for a country to adopt targeted policies in the interests of supporting local manufacturing/business, particularly if there’s a sense that competition is in some ways unfairly unbalanced. You can make the case that it can be counterproductive, but it may at times be appropriate. Let’s try to not let hatred for one man infect all political conversation (After all, it was about 5 seconds ago in political time that the American Left was pushing for these sorts of more-protectionist policies to protect union membership, etc).

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Yes. Indonesia first! I wonder who they got that idea from?

Every country to ever exist?

 

[I7guy]

It seems like Apple spends more time in court and a significant amount of money resolving these kinds of issues. Maybe that’s why there’s so little focus on innovation and software refinement. ⚖️

I know. Similar to implement emoji or fix software because the same people are doing the job. /s

 

[timber]

When your country is larger enough these policies probably tend to increasingly work.

It's not like anyone really needs iPhones.