Apple pledges $100 million Indonesia investment to lift iPhone 16 ban

Apple has offered $100 million to Indonesia as part of an effort to lift a recent ban of the iPhone 16 in the country, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The company has presented an investment plan that would use that $100 million to set up a manufacturing plant in the nation.

Earlier this month, Apple offered the country $10 million to reverse the ban. This latest proposal is worth ten times that, so the company certainly sees Indonesia as an important market. After all, the country is home to 280 million potential smartphone customers. The Ministry of Industry of Indonesia is scheduled to review Apple’s proposal this week.

This all started because Apple missed a local investment threshold by around $15 million. Indonesia mandates that certain devices sold in the country must have at least 40 percent “domestic content.” This percentage can be met by using domestically-sourced materials, building manufacturing plants or by employing local workers.

Apple previously invested around $94 million in the country through a variety of means, but it wasn’t enough to stave off the ban. The sale stoppage also applies to other recently-released Apple products, like the Apple Watch Series 10. The ban doesn’t impact older Apple devices, which are still available for purchase throughout the country.

Apple has opened up several developer academies throughout the country, but an actual manufacturing plant would be a major boon for Indonesia. Both Samsung and Xiaomi have already set up factories in the nation.

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