Indonesia has banned the sale of Google Pixel phones due to the tech giant’s failure to comply with investment regulations. industry » said the ministry, days after blocking sales of Apple’s iPhone 16.

Jakarta is seeking to boost investment by foreign tech companies with restrictive measures that require their phones to come from 40% Indonesian parts.

“We have stated that as long as these products do not meet the program that we have demanded, they cannot be sold in Indonesia,” Industry Ministry spokesperson Febri Hendri Antoni Arif said on Thursday. a press briefing.

“For Google Pixel, they did not obtain the TKDN certificate,” he added, using the acronym of the system which imposes the 40 percent rule.

Google Indonesia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.

Largest in Southeast Asia economy The country has a young, tech-loving population, with more than 100 million people under the age of 30, which tech companies are looking to capitalize on.

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About 22,000 Google Pixel phones have entered Indonesia this year, according to data from the Ministry of Industry.

Indonesia’s market share of smartphone shipments in the second quarter of the year was dominated by China’s Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, as well as South Korea’s Samsung, according to Counterpoint Research.

The ministry said last week that phones blocked from commercial sale could still be transported to Indonesia as long as they were not subject to trade.

He said the iPhone 16 phones also failed to meet the 40% local parts requirement.

Apple does not have an official store in Indonesia, but Chief Executive Tim Cook visited there in April as the company explored ways to invest in the country.

Source: AFP