Apple invests $100 million in Indonesia to unlock iPhone 16 sales

At the end of October, it became known that Indonesian authorities had blocked the sale of iPhone 16 smartphones in the country because the company supplying them did not comply with investment requirements in the local economy. To remedy the situation, Apple has expressed its readiness to invest $100 million in the Indonesian economy, Bloomberg reports.

Image source: Apple Maps

This amount will be invested over two years, which is ten times Apple’s previous investment intentions in Indonesia. The previous plan involved organizing accessories and components for Apple devices in Indonesia. The country’s authorities are now requiring the company to focus its investments on developing components and software in Indonesia. The decision to accept the new conditions proposed by Apple by the Indonesian authorities has not yet been finalized. Company representatives negotiated with Indonesian officials at various levels and visited Jakarta for relevant contacts.

Local authorities require foreign suppliers of smartphones and tablets selling their products in Indonesia to increase the share of local content to 40%. According to government data, Apple has so far invested only $95 million in the local economy, and this amount could not reach the promised milestone of $107 million. Similar grounds became the reason for the ban on the sale of Alphabet’s Google Pixel smartphones in Indonesia.

Access to the Indonesian smartphone market is believed to be important for Apple because of its 278 million consumers, more than half are under the age of 44 and are interested in technological innovation. How exactly Apple’s proposed $100 million investment will be spent is not specified. The company’s production infrastructure in this country is not very developed, and the indicated amount is not enough to fully create it. The emphasis may be on software development or localization of some services.