Finance
While Apple faces Indonesia ban, Chinese smartphone maker Honor enters
Pictured here is the Grand Indonesia shopping mall in Jakarta on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
BEIJING — Huawei spinoff Honor announced Tuesday it plans to launch smartphone sales in Indonesia by the end of March, becoming the latest Chinese company to enter a market that has banned Apple’s iPhone 16 over domestic production requirements.
Indonesia requires that for smartphones sold in the country, 40% of their components must be domestically sourced. That rule has prevented Apple from selling its newest phone in the market, where it is reportedly negotiating a $1 billion investment.
Honor has an office in Indonesia and is working with one local manufacturing partner, Justin Li, the Chinese company’s president of South Pacific operations, told reporters last week. He said a folding phone will be among Honor’s first set of locally sold products — 10 items in the medium to high-end segment.
The company aims to offer around 30 products from phones to tablets in Indonesia by the end of the year. The Southeast Asian country is home to the world’s fourth-largest country by population, just behind the United States.
“Although 80% of the market is dominated by devices priced under $200, as Southeast Asia’s largest and fastest-growing economy, Indonesia presents immense potential for long-term growth,” Canalys analyst Chiew Le Xuan said in an email.
“Indonesia is emerging as a key market in Southeast Asia, driven by rapid economic growth and an expanding middle class,” Chiew said, noting the country accounts for 35% of smartphone shipments in the region and can serve as a strategic regional hub.
As of November, Oppo, Xiaomi and Transsion — all China-based — held the top three spots in Indonesia by smartphone shipments, according to Canalys. Shenzhen-based Oppo in November held its global launch for its flagship Find X8 phone in Indonesia, where the company also has a factory.
Samsung ranked fourth in Indonesia with a 16% share, tied with Vivo, another Chinese brand, the Canalys data showed.
Excluding China and Japan, just under 8% of Apple’s sales come from Asia-Pacific.
Li claimed the decision to enter Indonesia was independent of Apple’s presence in the country, and was confident in Honor’s ability to compete. He said Honor had observed the Indonesian market for years, before doubling down on expansion efforts in the last half year.
While he declined to share a current breakdown of Indonesian to Chinese staff, Li said Honor is still hiring in the country and aims to have a predominately local staff in the future.
Honor plans to open at least 10 of its own stores in Indonesia this year, in addition to selling through a local retailer, Li said.
Outside of China, Honor primarily sells in Europe and parts of Southeast Asia. Its phones are not directly sold in the U.S. The company claimed that in December, more than half of its sales came from outside China for the first time.
Honor, which is planning to go public, was spun off from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei in November 2020 after the parent company was hit by U.S. sanctions. Huawei said it does not hold any shares in Honor or have involvement in business decisions.
‘The Big Money Show’ co-hosts discuss buy now, pay later spending options and the impact it will now have on your credit score.
Small, everyday purchases like a meal from DoorDash are now able to be financed through eat now, pay later options — a practice that some experts deem “predatory.”
“You’ve got to have enough sense to not follow the urge to finance a taco, okay? You have got to be an adult,” career coach Ken Coleman told “The Big Money Show,” Wednesday.
“This is predatory, and it’s going to get a lot of people in deep trouble.”
RISKS OF BUY NOW, PAY LATER: ‘TICKET TO OVERSPENDING,’ EXPERT SAYS
DoorDash and Klarna are now partnering up to extend buy now, pay later options to consumers. (Reuters, Getty / Getty Images)
Financial wellness experts are continuously sounding the alarm to cash-strapped consumers, warning them of the devastating impact this financial strategy could have on their credit score as some lenders will begin reporting those loans to credit agencies.
Consumers may risk getting hit with late fees and interest rates, similar to credit cards.
“So your sandwich might show up on your FICO score, especially if you pay for it late,” FOX Business’ Jackie DeAngelis explained.
EXPERTS WARN HIDDEN RISKS OF BUY NOW, PAY LATER
Major players like Affirm, Afterpay, and Klarna have risen to prominence at a time when Americans continue to grapple with persisting inflation, high interest rates and student loan payments, which resumed in October 2023 after a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ramsey Solutions personal finance expert and ‘The Ramsey Show’ co-host George Kamel discusses the ‘buy now, pay later’ craze and the trend that celebrates the financial benefits of being childless.
“The Big Money Show” co-host Taylor Riggs offered a different perspective, suggesting that company CEOs have a “duty” to attract as many customers as they want.
“Unfortunately for me, this always comes down to financial literacy — which I know is so much in your heart about training people to save now by later,” she told Coleman, who regularly offers financial advice to callers on “The Ramsey Show.”
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Coleman continued to come to the defense of financially “desperate” consumers, arguing that companies are targeting “immature” customers.
“I’m for American businesses being able to do whatever they want to do under the law. That’s fine. But let’s still call it what it is: it’s predatory, and they know who their customers are,” Coleman concluded, “And I’m telling you, they’re talking about weak-minded, immature, desperate people.”
FOX Business’ Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.
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