On the occasion of the publication of its results for the 2019 fiscal year, Sony unveiled very modest sales in the mobility sector. With 400,000 units sold in the first quarter of 2020, the group recorded a sad record.
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During its heyday, the Xperia range was one of the main forces on the mobility market. It easily sold 8 to 10 million smartphones each quarter. Unfortunately for Sony, those days are over. Over the entire fiscal year 2018, the Japanese manufacturer had already shown serious weaknesses by being able to display only some 6.5 million terminals sold. At the end of the 2019 fiscal year, which ran until March 31, the sinking is no longer in doubt: only 3.2 million Xperia mobiles found takers, less than half compared to the previous year .
And the dynamics of Sony is not reassuring. On the one hand, it is the second time in a row that the group’s sales in this segment have been halved over the year. The 2017 financial year had indeed ended on 13.5 million mobiles sold. On the other hand, in the first quarter of 2020, the conglomerate broke a sad record: it only sold approximately 400,000 smartphones worldwide, against 1.1 million in early 2019. Naturally, the coronavirus pandemic had a negative impact on sales, but it does not by itself explain this historic low.
Sony management was reserved in its comments and did not deliver predictions for the current year, pointing to the uncertainty around the health situation. Officially, the giant still believes in its new range (Xperia 1 II and Xperia 10 II), which rather received positive echoes following its presentation, and does not evoke any delay in manufacturing. Its factories in China and Thailand would operate normally, although some component suppliers face more difficulties.
Declining figures, but a fairly positive outcome
In general, the turnover of Sony fell 5% over the year to 8,259.9 billion yen, or 71.3 billion euros, for a net profit of 582.2 billion yen (5.03 billion euros) in 36% decline. Revenues are up slightly in several divisions (music, cinema, image), but the slump in the Electronics Products & Solutions branch, which hosts smartphones and televisions (also in decline), represents a drop of 329.4 billion yen (2.84 billion euros), while the natural deceleration of PlayStation 4 sales also translates into a decline of 333.3 billion yen (2.88 billion euros) for the Game & Network Services branch .
The console remains nevertheless a strong point of Sony: some 13.6 million units found takers during the fiscal year 2019, against 17.8 million in the financial year 2018 and 19 million for 2017. The manufacturer announced having delivered, as of March 31, a total of 110.4 million machines. 245 million games were also sold over the fiscal year, bringing the total since the launch of the console to more than 1.2 billion titles.
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