Medan, Indonesia – Winston, a medical doctor who lives and works in the capital of North Sumatra Province, is a self-proclaimed Apple fan.
Currently the proud owner of an iPhone 15, Winson had been looking forward to upgrading to the latest model, the iPhone 16, released in September.
Winston, however, has reluctantly given up on the idea since the Indonesian government banned sales of the iPhone 16 and the Google Pixel in late October, citing the tech giants’ failure to comply with the country’s Tingkat Komponen Dalam Negeri, or TKDN, policy, which requires phones to source at least 40 percent of their parts locally.
“Indonesian regulations about iPhones hit me once, and once was enough,” Winston, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told Al Jazeera.
While Winston could buy an iPhone overseas to bring back home – a relatively common practice that is legal as long as the phone is not resold – he has been burned by Indonesian regulations before.
“I bought the iPhone 11 in Singapore back in 2019 because it was much cheaper than in Indonesia, about $250 cheaper in fact. A round-trip ticket to Singapore at that time was only $120. You could fly to Singapore and back to Indonesia on the same day, so it was more cost-effective,” he said.
Winston used the phone without problems for about a year, until the Indonesian government in 2022 issued a regulation mandating that all phones be registered.
Despite registering his phone as required, the device suddenly lost signal one day and would not reconnect to the network, even with a different SIM card, he said.
“I went to a licensed Apple products reseller in Medan because I thought there was a problem with the phone, but they just said, ‘There is nothing we can do or suggest,’” he said.
Saddled with an unusable iPhone, Winston, who has had no problems with his current iPhone 15, which he bought through a licensed reseller, sold the device at a loss at a secondhand store during a subsequent visit to Singapore.
Indonesia, the fourth-most populous country with some 280 million people, is one of the world’s largest smartphone markets.
The archipelago was home to some 190 million smartphone users in 2022, according to market research firm Newzoo.
According to data from the Ministry of Industry, the country imported about 22,000 Google Pixel phones and 9,000 iPhone 16s in 2024, before authorities announced the bans.
Smartphone shipments to Indonesia were dominated by devices made by China’s Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, and South Korea’s Samsung.
Abdul Soleh, a lawyer in Medan, said the prohibitively expensive price of the iPhone 16 for many Indonesians might explain why there had not been more vocal opposition to the ban.
“It is a real shame, because iPhones are very popular and have a high user satisfaction rate in Indonesia,” Soleh told Al Jazeera.
“It would be better if the iPhone 16 could be sold in Indonesia because there are quite a lot of enthusiasts here.”
Khairul Mahalli, the head of the Chamber of Commerce in North Sumatra, said that while Indonesia’s TKDN policy is aimed at supporting local industry, it could have unintended consequences.
“As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with a trade industry that works between countries, it is fine to protect our industries, but we also need to have checks and balances in place,” Mahalli told Al Jazeera.
“One of the issues for the future could be that, if Indonesia blocks the sales of certain products, other countries could do the same and no longer accept the sales of Indonesian products on the international market.”
Mahalli said it was the job of the government to find ways to minimise harm to local industries that are less drastic than outright bans on foreign products.
“We don’t need to completely ban foreign sales, as Indonesia’s market is large enough to accommodate foreign products due to its large population of over 270 million people,” he said.
“We need to look at whether local production can keep up with consumer demand.”
Rio Priambodo, the head of the legal and complaints department at the non-profit Indonesia Consumers Organization, said consumers should think twice about purchasing the latest iPhone model, especially through illegal resellers in the country.
“The Consumers Organization recommends that consumers don’t just try to buy the iPhone 16 by any means possible if it has been banned by the government,” Priambodo told Al Jazeera.
“If purchases are made illegally, this will eliminate the dimension of consumer protection that all customers should have.”
In a bid to break the impasse, Apple has pledged to dramatically ramp up its investment in the country in exchange for lifting the ban.
In November, the California-based tech giant offered to invest $100m in the country over two years, a 10-fold increase from an earlier pledge to pour $10m into the construction of an accessories and components factory in Bandung, West Java.
Despite the offer, the Ministry of Industry appeared unmoved.
“From the government’s perspective, of course, we want this investment to be larger,” spokesperson Febri Hendri Antoni Arif said at the time.
On November 25, Jakarta formally rejected the offer, with Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita saying it did not meet Indonesia’s “principles of fairness”.
He said that Apple had invested more significant amounts in neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, including $15bn for manufacturing facilities in the latter.
“Based on the technocratic assessment, the investment amount has not met the figure that we consider fair,” he said.
“We want Apple to return to do business here, but we need a fair resolution.”
In the meantime, Apple fans such as Winston face the prospect of making do without the latest models for the foreseeable future.
“I understand that the ban is for political reasons because Apple does not want to invest in Indonesia, and I stand with my government. But I will never buy an iPhone abroad again,” he said.