After iPhone 16 sales of Pixel smartphones also stopped in Indonesia

Indonesia has banned the sale of smartphones made by Google’s parent company Alphabet. Just a few days ago, this country had also banned the sale of iPhone 16. In fact, there are rules in Indonesia under which a company selling smartphones in the country has to manufacture at least 40 percent of its components locally. Google did not follow this rule. Apple was also breaking this rule, due to which both the companies have been stopped from selling their smartphones.

According to Reuters report, the sale of Google’s Pixel phones has been banned. Industry Ministry spokesman Fabri Hendry Antoine Arief said on Thursday that we are putting forward these rules so that there is fairness for all investors in Indonesia. Google products do not comply with our specifications, so they cannot be sold here.

Google has said on this matter that its Pixel smartphones are currently not officially distributed in Indonesia. It is worth noting that Indonesia has only banned the sale. People in the country can use Pixel phones and iPhones. But they will have to get their devices from outside.

The government says that people can buy Google Pixel phones from abroad, provided they pay the necessary taxes. Apart from this, consideration is being given to deactivating these phones, which have been sold illegally in Indonesia.

This ban has been imposed at a time when Indonesia had said a week ago that it had banned the sale of iPhone 16 in the country due to not following local content rules. Anyway, these are not top companies in the Indonesian market. Oppo and Samsung smartphones are most used there.

Indonesia is one of the major markets in terms of technology. A large population there is tech-savvy. This country has also become the world’s leading market for tech-related investments. However, many people are calling the Indonesian government’s decision as “pseudo” protectionism. He believes that such steps harm consumers and also reduce investor confidence.