Sony’s mobile division has a disappointing Q2; Lowers yearly smartphone forecasts

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 31 Jul 2014

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Sony has just published its financial results for the first financial quarter of 2014 and things are not particularly looking rosy for the company’s mobile division.

While the Japanese company managed to make a profit overall, its mobile division performed below expectations. In fact, the company has even lowered its full-year sales forecast from 50 million to 43 million — a drop of 14 percent.

The company managed to ship 9.4 million units, which is down 2% compared to the same period last year and posted a loss of nearly $26 million. Sony states that one of the primary reason behind the loss was an increase in marketing and R&D expenditure.

The company had expected its mid-range Xperia devices to do significantly well in many Asian and other emerging markets, but thanks to the stiff competition from the likes of Xiaomi and Motorola, their sales have been disappointing. This has also led Sony to reduce its marketing and research expenses for the rest of the year.

Sony had managed to pique the interest of the consumers with the Xperia Z2 but the delay in its launch and its complete absence from the U.S market has affected the company adversely.

[Via Sony]