Sony recently reported its results for the quarter ending 30 June 2019. For those hoping that the launch of the Xperia 1 would help lift sales, then you’d be disappointed to here that volumes fell by 55 percent year-on-year to just 0.9 million phones – Sony managed 2.0 million phones the year before. Sony’s struggles are still very much real, although the launch of the Xperia 1 only happened at the end of May, so we may see a bounce in the subsequent quarter.
Sony Mobile reported quarterly revenues of 101 billion yen, a 23 percent fall from last year. However, a reduction in operating costs meant that the business actually reported an operating profit of 1 billion yen, versus a loss of 11 billion yen.
The result has meant that Sony has yet again lowered forecasts for the mobile division. It now expects to ship just 4.0 million phones, down from 5.0 million previously. While it still expects an operating loss of 47 billion yen, the revenue forecast has been lowered by 7 percent to 380 billion yen.
Sony continue to remain confident that it can make its smartphone business profitable, but unfortunately it lacks the scale and unfortunately, perhaps the relevance, to really make an indent on the global market.