By Stanley Widianto
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Apple will soon be able to sell its iPhone 16 phones in Indonesia after the two sides agreed on a number of deals, including a manufacturing plant and a research and development centre, the industry minister said on Wednesday.
Apple will soon obtain a local content certificate, which is needed for sales of the handset to be permitted, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita told reporters.
He did not say when the certificate would be issued.
Last year, Indonesia banned sales of the iPhone 16 because it said Apple had not met the required level of locally made parts for the phones to be sold domestically. Companies can meet the domestic requirement through local partnerships or by sourcing parts domestically.
Apple has no manufacturing facilities in Indonesia, a country of about 280 million people, but since 2018 it has set up a number of developer academies in the country.
Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country of 280 million people, is keen for tech-related investment.
Analysts have said the local content ban could hurt investor confidence and trigger protectionism concerns.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto and Ananda Teresia; Editing by John Mair)
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