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Sony hasn’t enjoyed much success in the smartphone business in recent years. But the Japanese company has continued to battle hard and the efforts are now seemingly starting to pay off. Sony published its quarterly financial results for the quarter ending September 2021 earlier today and there are a few positive takeaways as far as its smartphone division is concerned.
According to the report, Sony’s mobile division generated a sales revenue of Japanese yen (JPY) 99.1 billion (approx. $872.3 million) during the period between July to September 2021, i.e. second fiscal quarter. That’s up a strong 25 percent from JPY 79.1 billion (approx. $696.3 million) it generated during the same period last year.
Sony’s mobile division generated less revenue in fiscal Q1 2021 than Q1 2020. It registered a JPY 12.8 billion (~$112.6 million) loss in revenue between the two periods. If you see the results for 2018 and 2019, things look even worse. The company saw a JPY 37.1 billion (~$2.4 billion) retraction in Q2 2019 as compared to Q2 2018.
So a 25 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in revenue from the smartphone division is a big positive for Sony. It will now be looking to build on this success going forward.
Sony’s smartphone division is en route to recovery
Sony recently made a few strategic decisions to try and recover its dying smartphone business. The company is now focusing on premium and flagship segments with pro-grade cameras being the primary selling point. Its latest offering, the Xperia Pro I, is the “best smartphone camera” ever, Sony claims. And sure enough, these camera-focused phones have sold well among their target audience and have helped the company gain steam en route to recovery.
The Japanese electronics giant’s smartphone business returned to profitability for the first time in four years in 2020. This reignited hope inside the company, which has since gone on to post even more impressive results.
Sony didn’t provide a breakdown of smartphone shipments in its latest earnings report. However, the company suggested that it registered a growth in sales volume as well. And considering the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage, which has affected smartphone sales globally, that’s an impressive feat, more so for a struggling company.
This chip shortage will likely continue to impact the smartphone industry for the foreseeable future. So Sony has its task cut out to try and repeat this success in subsequent quarters. But the company now surely sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Time will tell where Sony’s mobile division heads from here on.