Sony’s mobile division is having a hard time making profits despite offering solid products. The Xperia Z lineup has always offered very good specs integrated into good-looking designs. The OmniBalance design language used in this lineup is based on symmetry on every surface and the company has been perfecting the design over time, but some people might be getting tired as every new generation looks quite like the last one. Their most recent flagship lineup is the Xperia Z5, which includes three phones and they all include a less rounded metallic frame surrounding the design and the iconic power button has been reshaped to integrate a fingerprint scanner, but overall they look like smartphones that Sony has introduced recently.
As annual profits declined, some rumors suggested that Sony could sell or merge this division, but those were denied by the general manager of Sony Mobile Taiwan. More recently, there were some rumors which suggested that Sony was looking into the possibility of making their custom processors to be used in their products, following companies like Apple, Samsung, and more recently, LG. There are certain benefits of building custom processors, as companies make sure that those work perfectly with specific devices, but it could take a while to make a profit out of such business. In a recent interview, Kazuo Hirai, President and CEO of Sony has denied the rumor about the company building their own chipsets and he stated once again that there are no plans of selling Sony’s mobile division. The strategy to make it a profitable business apparently involves some restructuring as well as adjusting production costs and extend the availability of their product portfolio into more regions.
Let’s hope that this strategy works for them, as they have brought some interesting features to the mobile market, such as devices with IP68 rating, which makes them water and dust resistant. Plus, the company seems to be one of the few focusing on providing more battery life to their devices and let’s not forget that they recently unveiled the first phone to integrate a 4K display. Even if people doesn’t like the looks of their devices, these features could influence the whole industry and it would ultimately benefit consumers in general.