Will Indonesia's strategy of rejecting Apple's previous investment bear fruit? According to a Nikkei Asia report, Apple is in talks with the supply chain to allow an iPhone assembly plant to open in Indonesia. With domestic assembly, Apple will eventually meet the 35% local product needs of Indonesia before the devices can be sold. If this report is accurate, Indonesia will become the second country in Southeast Asia to have an iPhone assembly plant after Vietnam.
Since last year, sales of the iPhone 16 series have been banned in Indonesia because Apple did not meet the requirements set by the government. Previously, Apple had promised to invest $1 billion to open an AirTag production factory in Batam. Apple and the Indonesian government have held various discussions to allow iPhone 16 sales to begin.
Indonesia is the world's fourth largest smartphone market with a population of over 280 million. This gives Indonesia the advantage of imposing conditions on foreign companies wishing to market their products. In comparison, Malaysia only has a population of around 33 million.