Infinix aims to be known as gaming-first brand, eyes tier 2, tier 3 cities: India CEO

With mobile gaming booming in India, smartphone makers are racing to capture a slice of the action. Among them is Transsion sub-brand Infinix, which is now positioning itself as a gaming-first company in a market crowded with performance-driven phones.

The company, which recently launched the GT 30 Pro in India, is now doubling down on its push to reach mobile gamers. “We want to be known as the gaming-first brand,” Anish Kapoor, CEO of Infinix India, told Mint in a recent conversation.

Citing industry data, Kapoor estimates there are now close to 600 million gamers in India, and says the market is evolving rapidly. “It’s growing phenomenally well in India,” he said. “We want to be part of that journey… we are looking at building up that community and giving that journey to people probably in tier 2, tier 3 as well. Wherein they see it as an aspiration to be an e-sport gamer as it is a recognized medal sport now.”

What sets Infinix apart in crowded India gaming landscape?

While many smartphone brands focus on raw specs to appeal to gamers, Kapoor said Infinix’s approach is more holistic. “They are talking about performance — we will bring you X chipset and that’s the first thing, and that chipset is equal to gaming,” he said. “If you look at the design language of the phone or anything else… our understanding of gaming is much different from what we have seen for these brands.”

Kapoor believes a gamer’s identity extends beyond the hardware specs. “I think people want to look like a gamer, they want to be identified as a gamer. It is not that they are just carrying a normal phone and they think it's a gaming phone,” he said. “So we are trying to build in a personality as well when we look at the overall capability of the phone.”

With the new GT 30 Pro, Kapoor said Infinix wanted to take things further. The phone includes dedicated gaming triggers and improved haptics, features he claims are typically reserved for far more expensive phones. “We are trying to bring a console-level experience,” he said. “Putting gaming triggers in the phone and bringing it down to 26,000 or 27,000 rupees is not easy. You usually only see this in phones priced at 50,000 or higher.”