Sony Mobile sees profits up in Q1 FY2017, ships 3.4 million smartphones

Sony reported first quarter results for the three months to 30 June 2017 earlier today. These were good numbers for Sony, with overall revenues up 15% year-on-year to 1,858 billion yen, with operating income of 158 billion yen, nearly 3x higher than the same quarter last year.

On the mobile side, Sony shifted 3.4 million smartphones, up 10% from last year, although these are still low numbers on the face of it. Sony kept its full year smartphone shipment target of 16.5 million units unchanged.

Mobile revenues of 181 billion yen, were down 3% on a constant currency basis, which Sony attributes to a change in product mix – so this could mean higher sales of mid-range devices such as the Xperia XA1 and XA1 Ultra.

However, despite the sales decline, operating income was up significantly to 3.6 billion yen. This was mainly due to lower operating costs and R&D costs, helping to offset component price increases.

Given how low Sony’s smartphone shipments are now running each quarter, let’s hope that some exciting new devices around the corner, can bring some upside to Sony’s full year forecasts.