Welcome to a thread in which to discuss and mourn the tech brands that tried to break the mould … but ultimately failed. I want to hear the stories of new brands that you took a chance on, the ones that did things differently, and the stories behind why they failed.
To kick things off, I tip my hat to Wileyfox, a British smartphone company founded in 2015 that caught my attention with its quirky branding, and a mission to offer quality smartphones at lower prices. Their tagline? - For fox sake, it’s time to change.
Their inaugural devices, the Storm, and the Swift, priced at £199 and £129 respectively, were great value. They shipped with the highly customizable Cyanogen OS, had great styling, Snapdragon chips, and 4G! At the time, as a tech-loving student, the prospect of a well-specced device without the flagship pricing was extremely compelling. Reviews were largely positive, with many praising the solid and premium feel of the devices, owing to their use of quality materials.
In 2016, Wileyfox released an even cheaper range of devices, the Spark, Spark +, and Spark X with the lowest spec model retailing for a minuscule £90. These new devices were less well-received compared to their siblings. Even with their impressively low price points, their mediocre specs failed to rival the offerings of better-established budget smartphone brands like Motorola or Honor.
After a few years of trading, Wileyfox fell into administration in 2018, mostly as a result of the low-margin model they had in place to offer devices so cheaply. The company was later bought by STK who saved them from bankruptcy, but ultimately did nothing with the brand (other than releasing this weird Windows Phone).
It’s sad to see any company fail, especially one that attempted to pass on savings to the consumer - but in this case, the brand fell victim to its own mission.
Take to the comments below to share your bereavement for a small player who was lost too soon!
