Infinix is a household smartphone brand not just here in Kenya, but Africa at large. But lately, the Transsion Holdings subsidiary has been spreading to more regions, including India, which has become every big company’s dream market.
Infinix is still making inroads in the Indian market and given the massive potential the market presents, the company is reportedly looking to continue with its “India-first” smartphone launches. This is because Infinix sees the Asian sub-continent as “its most strategic market.”
These remarks were made to the Economic Times by Infinix India CEO Anish Kapoor. While speaking to the Indian publication, Kapoor also dived further into the company’s immediate plans beginning the first half of 2020 – plans that have got my mind a little jiggly.
New smartphone segments
For as long as it has existed, Infinix is known to cater to the budget smartphone segment with some great offerings in the sub-Kshs 20,000 category. The best one, yet, as Chenze describes it in his review, is the five-camera Infinix S5 that goes for Kshs 16,500 for the base model of 4GB RAM and 64GB storage.
Infinix Zero series is the ultimate offering for Infinix fans after something more powerful at an extra cost. Considering its typical pricing in the regions of Kshs 30,000 (the Zero 6 Pro is the priciest Infinix device yet sold in Kenya at Kshs 32,000), we can as well say the company has concentrated on the budget segment more than any other smartphone segment.
But beginning the first half of 2020, Infinix will reportedly dip fingers into new smartphone segments.
We will launch four new smartphones in the first half of 2020, which may include our entry into a new smartphone segment.
Although there is no clear mention of which segments are in question, the only one way here is up. Granted, we could see Infinix unveil a proper midrange handset to rival the growing number of great midrange phones from Xiaomi, Oppo, and even several Galaxy A series devices.
Xiaomi has also managed to bring several flagship phones to the local market at some mouthwatering prices. Whether Infinix will also take down this road and give us phones to match the likes of Pocophone F1 and Xiaomi Mi 9 at equally affordable prices is anyone’s guess at this point in time, but 2020 is fast-approaching so we should find out these details pretty soon.
But before you get too excited, do keep in mind the previously-mentioned “India-first” thingy.
Infinix smart TVs, Android 10 TV, perhaps?
The Indian smart TV market has been taken over by Xiaomi and its affordable Mi TVs that run on Google’s Android TV. OnePlus also recently joined the market with a pair of its own OnePlus TV Q1 and Q1 Pro and keen followers will also know a thing or two about Huawei and Honor smart TVs.
Apparently, plans for Infinix smart TVs are also in the works, although the focus may still remain in India. What is still unclear is whether these smart TVs will run on Android TV, but given the market competition, I don’t think Infinix has any other viable option on the table.
Google recently announced the latest Android 10 TV, so if Infinix has any future plans for Android TV-powered smart TVs, this should be the OS to power them out of the box. But of course, we don’t make the rules.
I for one wouldn’t mind seeing true Android TVs hit the local market priced in the regions of Kshs 35,000 or thereabout, but I hope Infinix will be up for the task of keeping them up to date.
Focus on smart accessories
On top of entering new smartphone segments and launching its smart TVs, 2020 will also see Infinix increase its focus on smart accessories by pumping more smartwatches and portable audio products.
Earlier this year, Infinix unveiled the Infinix XW01, the company’s first true smartwatch. From the look of things, the wearable will get more company in 2020, so keep your pockets ready.
If things go as planned, Infinix products manufactured in India will be shipped and sold in Africa as well and hopefully, this should have some effect on the affordability of these devices. So yeah, all of these things mentioned in this article should be applicable to the local market as well.
