Sony has released its earnings for its first quarter of 2015, which ended today. As expected, Sony’s mobile division is still holding it back; while there was good news from PlayStation and Sony Devices – particularly from the imaging sensor business.
The PlayStation 4 sold three million units in Q1, bringing the total number of PS4s sold globally to an impressive 25 million. Sony’s financial report indicates that the console is still outselling its nearest rival – the Xbox One – by a factor of two to one. Gaming revenue was up by 12.1 percent, which is extremely good news for Sony and its console efforts. It has revised its forecast of 16 million PS4s sold in 2015 up to 16.5 million units moved.
More good news appeared from Sony Devices; which makes the camera sensors for most premium grade smartphones. These include those from Apple and Samsung, and Sony has managed to ride on the success of the iPhone 6 to profitability. Sales increased by 35.1 percent increase in sales to 237.9 billion yen (about RM7.3 billion) and Sony has said that it will be investing $3.6 billion (about RM13.7 billion) to boost sensor production. Sony’s cameras also saw a small five percent jump in sales.
On the other hand, sales from Sony’s mobile division dropped 16.3 percent. Sony claims that this was part of “a strategic decision not to pursue scale in order to improve profitability.” Admittedly, that hasn’t quite worked to their advantage. Sony Pictures suffered a similar dip in sales, dropping 11.9 percent on lower licensing revenues.
