Indonesia wants more than $1 billion from Apple to lift iPhone ban, welcomes Huawei with open arms
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Tim Cook (right) with photographer Sofyan Pratama in Indonesia in April 2024 -- image credit: Apple. Last updated 12 hours ago. Apple is in negotiations with an increasingly demanding Indonesia to get its iPhone 16 ban lifted, while Huawei plans to shortly launch its smartphone in the country.
The ban on sales of the iPhone 16 in Indonesia originally followed Apple's failure to meet its commitments to the country. Firms have to either source an unfeasibly large 40% of components from the country, or invest in development within the region, which is what Apple had committed to do.
Based on previous reports, it appears that Apple's shortfall was around $10 million, and the company did then offer Indonesia that amount to basically make good. It was a token and the Indonesian government rejected it, making Apple up its offer to $100 million worth of investment.
The government rejected that too, and seemingly chiefly on the grounds that Apple was again proposing to create more developer academies and a research and development center. It's possible that Apple was also planning to make AirPods Max in the country, but the government there wanted much more manufacturing.
Then in December 2024, with the iPhone 16 ban still in place, Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani said Apple would announce a $1 billion proposal within a week. Later that month, sources in the country said that Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto had approved Apple's proposal to build factories in the region. It wasn't confirmed by either side, but it was believed this was the $1 billion proposal that the minister alluded to.
