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Indonesia has banned sales of Google Pixel smartphones for failing to meet local content requirements, days after Apple’s iPhone 16 was banned in Southeast Asia’s largest phone market.
The Indonesian Ministry of Industry said that Google phones can only be traded if they comply with rules requiring 40% local content in smartphones sold in Indonesia.
Ministry of Industry spokesman Febre Hendry Anthony Arif told local reporters that Google must obtain local content certification before resuming sales. “The local content rule and related policies are designed to bring justice to all investors who invest in Indonesia, to create added value and deepen the industry structure here,” Hendry was quoted as saying.
The ban follows Indonesia’s ban on iPhone 16 sales last week after Apple failed to fulfill a $95 million investment commitment. Major smartphone makers must manufacture hardware, develop firmware, or invest in local innovation to meet Indonesia’s content rules.
The Indonesian rule requires technology companies to source 40% of phone and tablet components locally, a requirement that can be met through local manufacturing, firmware development, or direct investment in innovation projects.
Companies can meet the requirements through different ways. For example, Samsung and Xiaomi have established manufacturing facilities, while Apple has chosen to open developer academies.
This regulation, which is enforced through a certification system called Local Content Level, forms part of Indonesia’s broader industrial policy to leverage its huge consumer market for local economic development. Companies that fail to meet these limits face sales restrictions.
Neither Google nor Apple rank among the top five smartphone brands in Indonesia, according to marketing research firm Counterpoint.
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