Inside Infinix's Audacious Plan to Win India's Gamers

The Shenzhen - based smartphone manufacturer is plunging neck deep into India's already crowded melee of e-gamers. Infinix India CEO ANISH KAPOOR says the company aims to battle rivals with a weapon named 'authenticity' as it wades deeper into the Indian hinterland of tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

- By Sahil Mohan Gupta

IN THE SULPHUR-HOT pre-monsoon haze of early June, Anish Kapoor appeared on my laptop screen - immaculate shirt, muted home-office blur, voice pitched low and even. Do not mistake the serenity. As chief executive of Infinix India, Kapoor is plotting nothing less than a personality transplant for the Shenzhen-based company once pigeonholed as “budget only”. His chosen catalyst is the GT 30 Pro, a handset he calls a “spear” aimed squarely at India’s mercurial gaming community, especially outside the big cities.

For years Infinix occupied the wings while rivals slugged it out on centre stage. That cloak of modesty, Kapoor insists, has served its purpose. “We started our journey in India with majorly focussing on the budget category,” he reminds me, the line honed by repetition. “But now... we are seeing the consumer buying behaviour is changing. People are preferring to really go into a much higher price point.” In other words, the era of cheap, commodified slabs is fading; experience now trumps rupees saved.

A Veteran with Scars

Kapoor speaks with the war-weary assurance of a telecom lifer. His CV arcs from five formative years at Tata Teleservices through a half-decade steering Samsung's labyrinthine retail network, before a bruising tour with upstart LeEco. He has watched brands soar, stumble and quietly exit. That institutional memory underpins a strategy that looks reckless on paper yet coldly logical on the shop-floor.

The first-quarter tally for 2025 is brutal: India’s smartphone market shrank about eight per cent year-on-year. Yet the Rs 10,000-Rs 30,000 bracket - roughly two-thirds of all shipments - remains a cauldron of opportunity. That is where Kapoor is planting his flag.

Picking a Knife-Fight