The country’s government says Google failed to adhere to rules forcing smartphone firms to invest in its local economy.
Indonesia has banned the sale of Google Pixel smartphones, just days after stopping the iPhone 16 from being sold legally in the country.
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Government rules require all smartphones sold inside Indonesia to have 40% of their parts manufactured domestically. Or their manufacturers need to make significant investments in the local economy. Febri Hendri Antoni Arief, Indonesia’s industry ministry spokesperson, says the rules are to ensure “fairness for all investors in Indonesia,” Reuters reports.
Unlike rival smartphone manufacturers Samsung and Xiaomi, Google doesn’t have any manufacturing facilities in the Southeast Asian nation. “Google’s products have not adhered to the scheme we set, so they can’t be sold here,” Arief says.
Indonesians can still buy an iPhone 16 or Pixel abroad, but they may have to pay additional taxes, according to the minister. He added that local authorities may deactivate phones that are imported and sold unofficially.
Regardless of the recent clampdown, Indonesian consumers have long favored Asian brands over Western ones, with neither Google nor Apple being the most favored brands. Chinese brand Oppo is by far the country’s most popular smartphone manufacturer, with a market share of around 17%, followed by Samsung at 16.4%.
Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country after China, India, and the US with a median age of just over 30 and over 100 million people under 30. It was estimated that 68.1% of Indonesians had a smartphone in 2022, according to data from Statista.