Yes, Sony is still making smartphones, and no, it’s not going to stop churning them out despite the face that no one is interested in buying one. CEO Kenichiro Yoshida says the company will keep flogging its Xperia handset because it doesn’t want to miss out on a juicy piece of the pie. Considering it’s been living off crumbs for a while now, we’ll see how that decision pans out.
Yoshida said that the Sony’s business “has centred on entertainment” since it started up, and not “daily necessities” like kitchen appliances which are not half as much as fun. “We see smartphones as hardware for entertainment and a component necessary to make our hardware brand sustainable. And younger generations no longer watch TV. Their first touch point is smartphone.”
The plan is to play to its strengths and have its handsets be centred around gaming. As it currently stands, Sony’s global market share when it comes to mobile is less than one per cent, and he majority of the 6.5 million smartphones it ships every year are to Japan and Europe.
Sony is ignoring its investors by refusing to flip the switch on its smartphones which made an operating loss of 97.1 billion yen ($1,279,787,613) during the last fiscal year. The Verge reports that Sony will reduce its focus on all markets except Japan, Europe, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.