Apple is reportedly in talks with suppliers about establishing iPhone manufacturing in Indonesia, which may help be lifted through the ongoing delayed imposition of the ban on the latest iPhone 16 series in Indonesia. Four months ago, Indonesia banned, citing that Apple failed to meet its investment commitments; though multiple attempts to support the latter failed, the bans are still in place.
Earlier, Indonesia had allowed Apple to bypass stringent import rules in return for investments in the country. Unfortunately, the investment by this company was just $95 million and not the agreed $110 million. This underinvestment, coupled with Indonesia's insistence on enforcing its 'local content quota'-which required sourcing 35-40 percent of smartphone components locally-caused the ban.
Meanwhile, Apple does not have any local suppliers of iPhone manufacturing in Indonesia, and thus a stricter quota had to be set up that was not met. Although the AirTags production facility was opened on Batam island, Indonesian officials dismissed it as irrelevant to the iPhone ban. A meeting held in April 2024 found Apple's Tim Cook promising to look into local manufacturing, but by October, he had lost government support entirely. Indonesia has been begging for more investment in technology manufacturing, and Huawei has already committed to building smartphones there. If Apple does the same, it would be a big win for the tech sector in the country. Nonetheless, iPhone production is not expected to be cheap or easy; setting up such operations will require serious investment and time to build supply chain networks and establish plants.