Sony sells 8.8 million smartphones, narrows loss in Q2 2012

Sony posted its financials for the second fiscal quarter of the year and we are starting to see things slowly turn around for the Japanese giant. After a slow first quarter in the red, Sony narrowed down losses to $198 million on $20.5 billion of total revenue in Q2 2012.

This might not seem like a huge advancement, but if you put it in the context of a $312 million loss last trimester and $350 million in the red in the same period last year, it is definitely a sign of improvement. That’s welcome news for Sony’s new chief executive Kaz Hirai and we are curious to see whether the company will be able to clear its focus on core businesses and turn profitable after the disastrous 2011.

Sony sold 8.8 million smartphones in the second quarter of the year, and that’s a fairly steady growth for the company. This smartphone boom however eats out Sony’s cameras and camcorder business. Sony admitted there is "a contraction of the low-end of the market resulting from popularization of smartphones."

Sony continues restructuring and expects to slash 10,000 jobs to optimize its costs this year.

source: Sony (PDF)