Apple’s iPhone 16 hits Indonesia stores after months-long ban

Smartphone buyers were cheered by shopkeepers in Jakarta on Friday after Apple's latest smartphone went on sale following a months-long ban in Indonesia. The marketing and sale of iPhone 16 models was prohibited by the government in October over Apple’s failure to meet regulation requiring that 40 percent of smartphone components be made from local parts.

But the US tech titan announced last month that its latest smartphone models would hit the shelves, weeks after striking a deal with the Indonesian government to invest in the country. While the ban was in place, the government had allowed iPhone 16 models to be brought into the country, provided they were not being traded commercially. Indonesia has also banned the sale of Google Pixel phones for failing to meet the 40 percent local parts requirement.