Sony Mobile sales tank in Q1 2018 – Info Gadgets

Only 2 million Xperia phones sold

As an Xperia fan, you likely know the drill by now — Sony sets some kind of sales target, misses it, and further lowers their yearly sales forecast and the quarter that was turned out to be exactly that. During Q1 2018, Sony Mobile managed to sell 2 million smartphones, down 1.4 million compared to Q1 2017. The last time Sony sold this few handsets was in Q1 2010 when they started their entire mobile endeavor.

To make matters worse, Sony forecasted to sell 10 million phones in 2018 but that number has since been revised down to 9 million. Even if Sony could manage hit 10 million units sold for the year, it would still be their worst year, ever.

I wrote this on April 30th 2018:

In all of 2017, Sony Mobile managed to ship 13.5 million Xperia smartphones, down from their own estimate of 14 million, which if memory serves me right, is down from their own initial 15 million estimate for FY2017.

As for 2018, don’t expect things to get better with Sony forecasting 10 million sales which very well could end up closer to 9 million unless they’re sandbagging analysts with hopes of a surprise good year.

Chances are, depending on what Apple and Samsung announce in the next month and a half, when new iPhone and Galaxy phones are likely to be unveiled, don’t be surprised if Sony finishes 2018 sales at 8.5 million (more on that below).

With sales down 1.4 million compared to the previous year, revenue was also down by ¥48.7 billion. Sony estimates their mobile division will drive ¥610 billion ($5.49 billion) in all of 2018 where Apple’s ‘Other Products’ category, which consists of Apple Watch, AirPods, and Beats headphones, did $3.7 billion in just their last quarter.

Ultimately, for Sony Mobile, there is hope — the rumored Xperia XZ4 is looking like a great contender for a modern phone, but I fear what plagues them has less to do with hardware and more to do with management and their lack of vision. For Xperia loyalists, this could prove to be a worthy phone no matter the price, but for the general market, they can’t buy what they don’t know exists.

Luckily, with PlayStation crushing it, Sony as a whole is doing just fine: