Now Indonesia says Apple will build it a $1 billion plant to end the iPhone 16 ban

An Indonesian minister reports that Apple will now build a manufacturing plant in the country to make iPhone components, and presumably thereby get the iPhone 16 ban lifted.

Previously on Indonesia vs Apple... Apple used to get around the country's requirement that 40% of the components in phones must be made locally. That's not a practical requirement for any country, and the government seemed to know it, because it allowed Apple to qualify to sell iPhones there by launching developer centers instead.

According to Reuters, though, the country's now six-week-old ban on sales of the iPhone 16, may be be resolved by fulfilling that 40% component requirement. Rosan Roeslan, the Indonesian investment minister who made the claim about Apple building a new plant, also said the 40% requirement would be increased.

The minister did not say what the new figure would be, or when it might be raised, or why. For its part, Apple has said nothing at all about manufacturing anything in Indonesia, not since Tim Cook promised to think about it.

This claim of a $1 billion plant at least fits in with how much Roeslan previously said that Apple would invest in the country. Apple didn't comment on that, either.

In its first attempt to resolve Indonesia's ban on the iPhone 16, Apple did offer a token $10 million investment. Rather than entirely new money, that would have chiefly meant Apple actually fulfilling its previous commitment to the country.

Indonesia's government rejected that offer, and then reportedly also rejected a follow-up proposal of $100 million over two years.