Wileyfox calls in the administrators - staff laid off

British smartphone maker calls in the suits after just three years

Wileyfox has entered administration, just three years after launching its first Cyanogen-powered devices.

There hasn't been an official statement just yet, but a community manager at Wileyfox has confirmed that the London-based firm is in administration.

The administrators will now try to improve the company's finances or attempt to find a suitable buyer. If that can't be done, the company will be shut down for good.

"Wileyfox Europe Limited is in Administration. Andrew Andronikou and Andrew Hosking are appointed joint administrators and act jointly and severely without personal liability," the community manager, named 'Wileyfox-Jack', wrote on Reddit.

"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."

In a subsequent post, Wileyfox-Jack said that staffers at the firm were told the bad news in a meeting on Tuesday, and added that an official statement will be released shortly.

He also confirmed that anyone toting a Wileyfox smartphone is unlikely to receive any future operating system updates "unless something drastically changes".

Wileyfox, for those unfamiliar with the brand, first entered the smartphone scene in 2015 with the release of the budget Storm and Swift smartphones, which shipped running the now-defunct privacy focused, Android-based Cyanogen OS.

The company decided to create its own ROM following the collapse of Cyanogen, and most recently launched the Wileyfox Add-X range, heavily discounted versions of its standard smartphones, which came with lock screen adverts.

Ironically enough, Wileyfox's Add-X range is currently listed as Amazon's 'Innovation of the Month'. This not only coincides with the news that the Wileyfox has entered administration, but also with an announcement from Amazon that it's binning lock screen adverts on its Prime Exclusive mobes.