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Sony posts strong quarterly financial results, despite faltering mobile division

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Sony just posted its latest quarterly results for 2015. The company’s net profit rose to ¥82.4 billion (roughly $664 USD), way above what any analysts expected. Sadly for Xperia fans however, this was all despite its smartphone sales, not because of them.

Sony’s strongest performing category was the PS4 division which saw a 12.1% increase in sales to ¥288.6 billion ($2.3 billion USD) after selling three million PS4 units, and increasing software and peripheral sales. Its other strong performer was the camera sensor division. Sony sells its mobile camera sensors to a number of companies, including Apple, Motorola and Samsung among many, many others. From camera sensor sales alone, Sony pulled in ¥237.9 billion ($2 billion USD).

Sales across the company however are almost flat year-on-year, mostly thanks to the faltering smartphone sales. Sony’s mobile division saw sales drop 16.3%, but this isn’t entirely surprising. The once-popular manufacturer has openly stated that it will focus on a smaller group of handsets with healthy margins. Although this leads to less revenue in the short run, profit margins should increase in the long term, if the company balances the marketing strategies suitably.

Sales decreased 16.3% year-on-year (an 18% decrease on a constant currency basis) to 280.5 billion yen (2,299 million U.S. dollars). This decrease was due to a significant decrease in smartphone unit sales resulting from a strategic decision not to pursue scale in order to improve profitability

Sony also saw declines in its Sony Pictures’ sales and its home entertainment (TV and AV gear) division. They saw decreases of 11.9% and 13.8% respectively.

Smartphones Sony’s saviour as cameras, TVs, gaming and movies all lose money

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Photo: digitaltrends.com

Photo: digitaltrends.com

Strong smartphone sales were about the only good news for Sony investors in today’s earnings release, mobile sales in the last quarter up 39.3 percent year-on-year, led by its flagship Xperia Z.

Cameras, TVs, gaming and movie divisions all lost money, leading the company to slash its annual profit forecast by 40 percent to $300M … 
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Xperia Z helps Sony’s mobile division turn $28M loss into $60M profit

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Sony’s mobile division has posted a profit of $60M in Q2 after making a $28M loss in the same quarter last year, reports the New York Times.

Sony reported a “significant increase” in quarterly sales of smartphones, to 9.6 million from 7.4 million in the period a year earlier. Sony said average selling prices had risen as well, helping the mobile division post a profit of $60 million, after a loss of $28.1 million in the year-ago period.

Its early launch of its flagship Xperia Z handset ahead of launches by Samsung and HTC was likely a significant factor, with export numbers assisted by a weak Yen .

Sony may struggle to maintain this performance, however. The successor to the Z, the Xperia Z Ultra, is due to launch next month with a $799 off-contract price-tag that puts it firmly up against the Samsung S4, HTC One and Moto X.
Via BGR
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UK carrier O2 follows T-Mobile lead with its own version of ‘Uncarrier’

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UK mobile carrier O2 is following T-Mobile’s US lead in separating phone and airtime plans.

Unlike Uncontract, O2’s Refresh deal still requires customers to sign up to an airtime contract, but allows greater flexibility by paying off the phone plan at a faster rate, and getting more frequent upgrades.

Customers can reduce the monthly cost of the phone plan by paying an up-front amount, or trading in the old handset, and can pay off the phone plan balance at any time in order to upgrade.

A customer buys a HTC One on O2 Refresh and chooses to pay £17 per month for their Airtime Plan and gets unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data. They then choose to pay £20 per month for their Phone Plan and pay £49.99 up front, meaning their combined O2 Refresh tariff costs £37 per month, the same as they would pay on a standard 24 month Pay Monthly contract.

To make it even more affordable to get the latest smartphone, customers can trade in their old mobile for cash using O2 Recycle, getting up to £260 to put towards their new phone.

Refresh is focused on higher-end handsets, and will initially offer a choice of HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S3, Sony Xperia Z, Blackberry Z10 and  iPhone 5.