February of 2014 brought the end of Sony’s VAIO spell, selling off their PC business to place a larger emphasis on its Mobile division. A year and a half later the CEO of Sony, Kazuo Hirai spoke to reporters saying that there has been constant restructuring in the smartphone department but if they fail to bring home the milk or at least self-sustain next year, they might have to scrap it all together.
Change doesn’t immediately equate to results but it points in the right direction, if you’ve been paying attention to the recently released Xperia Z5 line, it’s a glimmer of hope that could turnaround Sony’s profits. A lesson from its Xperia Z3+ that received a lot of negativity, due to the bad choice of processor – the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (at the time the heat issues weren’t mediated properly). Here’s a look at how the Z5 Premium handles its heating.
Sony’s lineup has looked awfully familiar for quite a number of generations; begging the question, if they’ll do away with their OmniBalance design. Rumours say that they might just do so in 2016 – chances are it’ll coincide with the new Concept for Android that Sony has been testing in Sweden.
Even with the aforementioned measures taken to decrease losses could not save Sony from expectedly posting a 60 billion yen / US$ 480 million (RM 1.97 billion) lost for this year. Exceeding the indicative figure of 39 billion yen / US$ 310 million (RM 1.27 billion) that was predicted. Not a great outlook for the Japanese company that ships only 1% of the smartphones in the States, while just captivating 17.5% of its own domestic market.
Here’s the statement from Hirai on the state of Xperia’s business
“We will continue with the business as long as we are on track with the scenario of breaking even next year onwards. Otherwise, we haven’t eliminated the consideration of alternative options.
“I do have a feeling that a turnaround in our electronics business has shown progress. The result of three years of restructuring are starting to show. But we still need to carry out restructuring in smartphones.”
Can Sony make a U-turn? We’d like to see that happen, as the Xperias are a great offering and less competition is always a bad thing for consumers. Keep on keeping on, Sony, we hope for the best.
