iPhone could be banned in one of the largest countries on the planet starting in 2019 if Apple does not comply with a new legislation imposed in the country by the authorities. India is the country where Apple could have iPhones banned, and that's because the local authorities force phone manufacturers to integrate a new application into their own products.
The authorities in India want to reduce spam messages and phone calls using a special application that can be installed by users on their phones. Apple refused to include this application in the App Store because it allows people to be monitored, but it seems that it has little choice if it wants to continue selling iPhones in India in 2019.
iPhone may be BANNED in a BIG Country from 2019
The authorities' application requests access to the list of calls and the content of messages from people's phones, these things being against the data security principles that Apple has. However, the authorities oblige all manufacturers to allow the installation of this application, and from January 2019, phones on which it cannot be installed will be banned in the country by the authorities.
"Every Access Provider shall ensure, within six months' time, that all smart phone devices registered on its network support the permissions required for the functioning of such Apps as prescribed in the regulations 6(2)(e) and regulations 23(2) (d). Provided that where such devices do not permit functioning of such Apps as prescribed in regulations 6(2)(e) and regulations 23(2)(d), Access Providers shall, on the order or direction of the Authority, derecognize such devices from their telecom networks."
The ban will only apply to mobile phone networks, meaning that iPhones will be able to be sold in the country, but they will be iPod Touches, as they will not have GSM connectivity. Apple has so far failed to convince the authorities to give up the idea, but in India it sold only 1 million phones in the first 6 months of 2018, so the loss would not be that big, in the end.
