Trassion’s focus on the African market has paid off for the Chinese corporation. Its array of phones, including the likes of Tecno and Infinix are popular in millions of households for one main reason: they are priced competitively. The under-20K range is filled with tens of options from these manufacturers, and Transsion keeps churning out more phones to fill any possible gaps for its loyal customers.
In early 2019, Infinix released the Hot 7. The Hot line of phones is Ininfix’s low-end offering, followed by the Note series for the mid-range and Zero series for those without a budget restriction. The Hot 7 is a good buy for most people, but it lacked 4G in a market where Kenya’s top three carriers offer the service for faster connections.
Infinix would later release LTE-capable Hot 7s (Pro) in other markets, but we suspected the slightly higher price tag could not be favourable for local buyers. Either way, the phone maker dropped the ball here because even cheaper options like the Redmi 6A (that is receiving Android Pie as of this writing) have better radios.
If rumours and pictorial evidence are anything to go by, then we will see Hot 7’s successor earlier than we expected. According to Gizmochina, which got access to the unreleased device’s retail box, the Hot 8 will mark a departure from the series’ pedestrian specifications for more. For instance, the base option may be equipped with 64 GB and 4 GB of memory, a more prominent display with a tear-drop notch for maximum screen estate and of course, 4G.
We are not certain Infinix will swap the CPU for a faster chip, and if that happens, then a lot of people will be pleased, bearing in mind that the Hot 7 was not a fast phone.
Additional details will emerge later, and we are looking forward to a more delightful package overall. It will make a lot of sense if Infinix bumps the price of the Hot 8 up, but buyers will not mind if the premium is matched by a capable handheld. We just hope the price will not be more than KES 15,000; else it encroaches the Note space.
