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 industry ministry said Google phones can only be traded if they comply with rules requiring 40% local content in smartphones sold in Indonesia.
Industry ministry spokesman Febri Hendri Anthony Arif told local reporters that Google must obtain a local content certificate before resuming sales. “The local content rule and related policies are designed to achieve fairness for all investors investing in Indonesia, create added value and deepen the industry structure here,” Hendri was quoted as saying by the Indonesian news agency.
The Indonesian rule requires tech companies to source 40% of components for mobile phones and tablets locally, a requirement that can be met through local manufacturing, firmware development or direct investment in innovation projects.
The regulation, enforced through a certification system called the “local content level,” is part of Indonesia’s broader industrial policy to leverage its huge consumer market for local economic development. Companies that fail to meet these thresholds face restrictions on sales.