Apple is looking to invest a whopping 100 million US dollars in the Southeast Asian country of Indonesia in a new proposal by Cupertino to stop the possible iPhone 16 ban, leading this week's top story on Tech Times' Weekly Wrap. Moreover, there is also the iconic SpaceX Starship sixth test flight that saw another successful venture towards the orbit and back to the planet.
Lastly, there is also sad news for all aspiring Starlink users as the company has moved several regions in the United States and other parts of the world back to the waitlist for unknown reasons.
Apple to Invest $100M in Indonesia and Stop iPhone 16 Ban
Indonesia has previously threatened Apple that it will ban the sale of the iPhone 16 series in the entire country as the second most valuable tech company failed to meet its promises, but it has now revised its proposal and offers $100 million to invest. Currently, Apple's iPhone 16 has already been banned from selling in Indonesia as authorities have enforced its iron hand against Cupertino's shortcomings.
Moreover, this revised proposal by Apple has increased the investment pledge to the country by 10 times its original promise which was previously only $10 million, with this already at a whopping $100 million.
According to Bloomberg, Apple claimed that it will spread the $100 million investment on Indonesia in a span of two years but Indonesia's Ministry of Industry is asking for a greater proportion from Cupertino's funds.
SpaceX Starship Flight 6 is Another Rousing Success
The much-awaited Flight 6 by SpaceX's Starship commenced last Tuesday, November 19 which saw another full-stack test flight by the first-stage Super Heavy Booster and second-stage Starship. It was another significant success for SpaceX as the Starship soared high in the skies and reached low-Earth orbit, first seeing the Super Heavy fire off all its 33 Raptor engines for its much-needed thrust.
However, it was unlike Flight 5 which saw Mechazilla catching the Super Heavy as the automated health checks of critical hardware triggered to abort the 'catch attempt' and opted for a water landing.
That being said, SpaceX crossed off another milestone after the Ship used one of its Raptor engines in orbit to demonstrate its controls, altering its flight path in the process and having it positioned for landing, also with a splashdown on the Indian Ocean.
Starlink Brings Back Waitlist in the US
After several months since SpaceX removed the waitlist for Starlink, the dreaded waiting time is back for customers in selected regions in the United States for reasons that the company did not divulge. Based on the Starlink Availability map, cities where Starlink is marked as 'sold out' include San Diego and Sacramento, CA; Austin, TX; Seattle; Spokane, WA; Portland, OR; Colorado, Montana, and North Carolina.
However, the waitlist and sold-out notice are also applied to different regions in the world including Canada, London, Mexico, South Korea, the Philippines, and Ukraine.
That being said, Starlink's service is sternly growing in the market according to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, particularly as it is close to achieving 5 million users globally, with 6,400 satellites already up and running on the low-Earth orbit.
It was speculated that Starlink may be on the waitlist because of hardware unavailability or because its satellites cannot keep up with the service in select regions.
