It’s the end of the line for Infinix smartphones in the Philippines. This is according to Zaks Yu, the Chinese executive tasked to handle its business here.
A post on Infinix Mobile Philippines’ official Facebook group account revealed that the Hong Kong-based tech company has decided to pull the plug on distributing Infinix handsets, effectively ending sales in the country.
Yu also confirmed the news to us on Messenger. However, he still does not know when exactly they are closing the smartphone business. “We have to wait for our distributor to finish their inventory,” he added.
The news comes days after it released the Infinix Note 5 in the Philippines. The Note 5, as you might recall, is the company’s first Android One smartphone and is priced at P8,999 (around $170) on Lazada Philippines.
The news comes days after the company released the P8,999 ($170) Infinix Note 5 Android One phone in the Philippines
According to Yu, Infinix is losing too much money here, hence the decision to to shutter its local operations. And with no intention to go on the same spending trajectory its closest competitors — Huawei, OPPO, and Vivo — are on, the choice isn’t really a choice at all as much as it is the pivot Infinix needs to make.
However, it won’t stop servicing phones covered by its local warranty policy. Additionally, Infinix will continue to make its smart accessories available online.
Infinix may be pulling out of the local smartphone business, but it will still continue to make its smart accessories available in the Philippines.
The competition has never been tougher in the Philippines from top to bottom, so perhaps Infinix made the right call. Time will tell. Still, it’s unfortunate that another brand is pulling out of the country at a time when the industry is projected to rebound after shipments fell last year.
Perhaps it might return here in the future, just as brands like Xiaomi and Honor made a comeback a few years since they had first left. Infinix should probably rethink its online-only strategy. Offline is still king in the Philippines.
Share this Post
Learn About This Author
