Failure to comply with local laws means Apple cannot sell the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro for a while.
Apple Fails to Meet Investment Target in Indonesia, Hence Can’t Sell iPhone 16 in the Country Officially
I say ‘for a while’ because once it has met its investment goal in the country, it can start selling the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro officially, according to Bloomberg.
Just to make things clear, other companies that operate in the country have met their investment pledges, including Samsung and Xiaomi. They did so by setting up local manufacturing plants in the country.
Apple, on the other hand had committed to investing around 1.7 trillion Rupiah in the country but has so far only invested 1.5 trillion. This investment goes into opening developer academies instead of manufacturing plants.
Due to failure of this commitment, Apple won’t be able to sell the phone officially in the country. However, more than 9,000 iPhone 16 phones already exist in Indonesia. These phones have been brought in by passengers, crew members etc. and are limited for personal use only.
Indonesia is not going to ban these phones that have already been brought in. However, Apple sees a severe blow in sales due to its failure to comply to local laws. I’m pretty sure Apple will reach some sort of agreement in the near future to resume sales.
