Apple’s $1 Billion Offer to Indonesia Fails to Remove iPhone Ban

Apple’s latest iPhone is reportedly still banned in Indonesia over the country’s content requirements.

The tech giant had proposed a $1 billion investment in local manufacturing, although Indonesia’s government said that isn’t enough to meet a regulation requiring 40% of all content in devices to be sourced in-country, the Financial Times (FT) reported Wednesday (Jan. 8).

The government first banned the sale of the iPhone 16 in October. Apple rival Google’s Pixel phones are banned for not meeting the 40% rule either, hindering smartphone sales in one of the world’s most populous countries.

Apple had proposed building a $1 billion plant to make its AirTag tracking device in partnership with a local company, the FT report said. That plant is expected to begin operations by early next year, although the government said this facility would not contribute to the local content requirement for iPhones.

“As of this afternoon, the Ministry of Industry does not have the basis to issue the local content certificate for Apple products, especially the iPhone 16,” Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, Indonesia’s industry minister, said Wednesday, adding that Apple’s investment proposal was “not enough.”

Apple had first proposed a $10 million investment, then $100 million, although Indonesian officials said these figures are dwarfed by the company’s smartphone sales in the country, per the report.

Also this week, Apple came under fire for an artificial intelligence-driven news summary feature that produced inaccurate and misleading headlines on its newest iPhones.

The issue was first flagged last month by the BBC when a news alert from its app wrongly reported that Luigi Mangione, accused of the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had shot himself.

In a later instance, a news summary reported that Luke Littler had won the PDC World Darts Championship before the tournament had even started. Plus, a news notification from The New York Times in November produced a report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been arrested (he had been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court).

Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote earlier this week about the broader implications of Apple’s chief financial officer transition, with Kevan Parekh, formerly Apple’s vice president of financial planning and analysis, replacing Luca Maestri as CFO.

“With Apple at the forefront of innovation and a leader in corporate governance, this transition offers a glimpse into the priorities and challenges shaping the CFO agenda for 2025 and beyond,” the report said.