These Guys Deserve an Innovation Award

I was going through the Infinix Website the other day when I came across a few very impressive things. I gotta say, these guys are really catching up to the global market.

Infinix Mobile is a Hong Kong-based smartphone manufacturer founded in 2012 by Transsion Holdings. The company has research and development centres in China and designs its phones in France. Infinix mobile phones are manufactured in China and are available in about 30 countries in the Middle East and Africa, including Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Egypt.

Wikipedia

A Sudden Shift in Demand

So no they’re not popular in the USA or Europe. But here in Nigeria they are a major player. I’ve always complained that our local Smartphone Manufacturers were complacent in terms of emerging Smartphone features. The utter lack of innovation and creativity radiating off their every release. Then again, it wasn’t until recently that a demand for Striking new features across Software and Hardware became existent. Following this, Manufacturers have begun to sit up in their chairs and think of new ways to out-do themselves. Anything that could create an edge—from an extra camera to more RAM and a faster CPU. And it appears Infinix Mobile are currently in the lead.

The Impressive Features I talked about

• The Infinix note 5 now features Android One—A non-customized super lightweight version of Android. So no more Bloatware. And you can now actually expect one or two version updates from Google.
• Their latest custom Operating System, XOS 4 Honeybee, rocks with stunning, useful features I wrote about here.
• They’ve ditched the mediocre Mediatek Processing chips Qualcomm’s Snapdragon CPUs—albeit lower performance ones. But still commendable
• Open source is officially available for the Infinix Hot 4 Pro. What does that mean? Well they’re granting access to nerds to mess with their Software and code, then compare notes in their forums.
• Damage Coverage. Well on the kinda expensive Zero 5. But it’s a big step in Product Quality Assurance. It even covers Screen Replacement
• Even a USB-C port. Again, on the high-end Zero 5. But the fact that this was even considered.
• Phones like the Infinix Hot 6 Pro and Hot 6x are feature packed, looks — and feels great. Yeah yeah they might’ve copied the iPhone X’s design. But then who hasn’t.

At this point you’re either as impressed as I was. Or you’re just trying to make sense of it all. You were probably hoping to see “a much better camera than the others” under impressive features—Although Infinix does have a much better camera than the others—Besides my point however. Everyone’s trying to make a much better camera than the other and a much better screen. Copying popular new trends and designs off each other. But only so they can sell more than the others.

The above listed features are far from selfish improvements. Most of them like free broken screen replacement and the forums they run for developers actually cost them rather than makes them money. They are an extra step in product quality assurance not everyone would take.

So Why Bother

Evidently, Infinix is making waves with their innovative solutions and features. The initiative of Open Source on the Infinix Hot 4 Pro for instance. Or the switching to Qualcomm’s chips. These are features a big percentage of Nigerians aren’t aware of or don’t care about. So it is quite commendable that they even bother—A wise decision though.

The reputation of most Asian Smartphone Manufacturers have been marred by nasty habits of cutting corners and the use of sub-standard “China” parts. It is that same lazy approach to design and manufacturing considering the market I was talking about. Only the companies that make the extra effort toward product quality and innovation—Samsung and OnePlus for instance—acquire a much coveted place in the US and European market.

In the end, whether Infinix Mobile is in pursuit of Global fame, or just trying to address the needs of a budding number of tech-savvy people in their current markets, they are without a doubt, doing one hell of a job.