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Sony's Xperia smartphone business reports first profit in years

By Joshua Swingle

Updated: Apr 28, 2021, 6:33 AM

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Sony's Xperia smartphone business reports first profit in years

The first quarter of the calendar year is never a great one for Sony’s Xperia smartphone business and 2021 was no different, as the Japanese brand announced in its latest earnings result.

Sony shipped 400,000 Xperia smartphones last quarter

Around 400,000 Xperia smartphones were shipped in Q1 2021. The result is far from groundbreaking, represents a joint record-low for the division, and follows a holiday quarter in which 1 million devices were sold. But there is some good news.

Xperia phone demand was stable versus the year-ago quarter, when Sony also shipped 400,000 smartphones. Most brands target annual growth, yet Sony has been reporting declining numbers for years, so reaching stability is no mean feat.

For Sony’s fiscal FY20 (April 2020 to March 2021), a total of 2.9 million Xperia smartphones were shipped to customers, down a little from the 3.2 million shipped in FY19.

Sony's Xperia division is profitable for the first time in years

In addition to that, Sony has confirmed that FY20 was the first time since FY17 that its Mobile Communications division reported a profit, therefore hitting the forecast it announced last year.

Sony's mobile business reported a profit of 27.67 billion JPY ($254.96 million) in the fiscal year ending March 2021. The significant cost reductions in the Xperia division also contributed to a big profit jump for the parent Electronics Products & Solutions (EP&S) business.

However, that doesn't mean the struggle is over. In the most recent quarter, the smartphone division still managed to lose 14.12 billion JPY ($129.58 million), despite revenues rising a little to 74.15 billion JPY ($680.75 million), from 70.38 billion JPY ($646.13 million) in the first quarter of 2020.