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UK phone maker Wileyfox enters administration (bankruptcy)
- Smartphone maker Wileyfox has entered administration, the British equivalent of American bankruptcy.
- The small U.K. company promised low-priced Android phones with high-end specs.
- Where the company will go from here remains unclear, as not much information is available.
According to a Reddit-verified Wileyfox employee, the British upstart smartphone manufacturer has entered administration, the British equivalent of American bankruptcy. Like with bankruptcy proceedings, administration involves government officials stepping in to help insolvent companies deal with paying off their debts by liquidating assets.
It is not yet clear what this means for Wileyfox as a company, nor what it will mean for owners of its devices, like the Swift 2 and Swift 2 Plus. It is not unheard of for a company to enter into bankruptcy and stay afloat, but judging from Wileyfox’s size and its sales troubles, this does not seem like it will end well.
The (now former) employee posted a thread in the official Wileyfox subreddit breaking the news:
Wileyfox Europe Limited is in Administration. Andrew Andronikou and Andrew Hosking are appointed joint administrators and act jointly and severely without personal liability. As of now I no longer work for Wileyfox, I will still try to provide some support for you but it will no longer be official. I’m afraid I won’t be able to answer such questions as “What will happen to my phone that’s off for repair” I will try to answer what questions I can that you ask but I don’t have many nor can I provide many answers. Today is a sad day not just because I lost my job but because I believed in the Wileyfox brand :(
Android Authority reached out to the former employee for a statement but did not hear back in time for publishing.
Wileyfox burst onto the scene in 2015, promising low-priced smartphones with high-end specs, akin to China’s OnePlus. Things started out OK, with the Swift and Storm phones receiving good reviews. But problems with Cyanogen, the Android variant Wileyfox (and OnePlus) phones originally ran on, caused some major issues for the company.
Eventually, in a move inspired by Amazon’s Prime Exclusive Phones, the company started selling its phones with permanent lock screen ads to cut down costs.
We will update this post if Wileyfox or the original poster on Reddit make a statement.