Dubai
Sony Mobile expects to be back in the black this year by only targeting regions which have improved smartphone growth rate, a top official told Gulf News.
“The industry itself is quite maturing and there is a lot of consolidation taking place. For us, we see smartphone as a way of leveraging all of our other technologies,” said Jason Smith, Vice-President for Middle East and Africa at Sony Mobile Communications, after launching its flagship Xperia XZ in Dubai on late Tuesday.
He said the new smartphone is an “important business for us” and “a way to differentiate from others.”
“Our target is to make a profitable and sustainable business this year and then regrowth as a strategy. We will focus on mid-range and premium devices to drive our share forward,” he said.
In 2015, Sony restructured its mobile business and in the first quarter of this year, which ended in June, the Japanese company booked a profit of $205 million (Dh753 million). Its mobile group turned in a modest profit of $4 million due to the strength of the Japanese yen. During the same period last year, the mobile division recorded a loss of $188 million.
At a recent investor meet, Sony Mobile reported that it will focus less on select markets like China, India, and the US while increasing its focus on select markets in East Asia (including Japan), Europe and the Middle East.
“Sony brand equity is very high in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE, and will develop its business through product differentiation, since players that can offer high value-added smartphones globally are limited,” Smith said.
However, Ian Fogg, head of mobile analysis at IHS Technology, told Gulf News that the Japanese firm is struggling to sustain a foothold in the smartphone market because of its traditional premium brand position has been hit by the success of Apple, Samsung, and increasingly from the rise of Huawei’s premium smartphone models.
Moreover, he said that Sony smartphones key differentiators such as water/dust resistance have been ceded to rivals. This year, Sony chose not to offer water/dust resistance on many of its high-end smartphone models such as the Xperia X or Xperia X Compact at the same time Apple and Samsung have made water/dust resistance a “standard feature of their premium models”. This increases competitive pressure on Sony and its market share.
“Sony Mobile’s current strategy is to focus on profitability, and hence margin, rather than shipment volumes. The real test for Sony is how profitable it will be, not smartphone unit shipment volumes. But the risk for Sony is that as shipment volumes drop, Sony loses economies of scale, and it can become much harder to be profitable,” Fogg said.
According to industry experts, Sony is expected to sell 19 million units this year.
Key features
• The 5.2-inch gorilla glass display is powered by 2.15 GHz quad-core Qualcomm 820 processor and coupled with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage capacity. The microSD card supports up to 256GB.
• The single/dual-SIM device houses 23 MP, f/2.0 and 1/2.3-inch sensor size rear and 13MP f/2.0, 22mm, 1/3-inch sensor size front-facing cameras.
• It features advanced camera with triple image sensing technology and 5-axis image stabilisation.
• Added to this is the Laser AF sensor with distance sensing technology.
• It sports Type-C USB to charge the 2,900mAh intelligent battery with Smart cleaner and Qnovo adaptive charging technology which monitors and adjusts the charging current to avoid damage for battery longevity.
• Available in forest blue, mineral black and platinum colour variants and priced at Dh2,299. It will be available from September 29.
• Pre-ordered consumers get a free Sony network wireless speaker or Sony Bluetooth noise-cancelling headset worth Dh799.
