The on-going trade war between the US and China has clearly affected many companies, with Huawei seemingly receiving the brunt of it. Now, Sony is saying that US tariffs on China could effectively force the Japanese brand to raise the price of its PlayStation console, should it continue.
Warnings of the unwanted price hike were made by Hiroki Totoki, Financial Chief at Sony. Totoki says that the electronics giant was looking for measures to skirt the tariffs; sadly, making consumer bear the cost of manufacturing current PlayStation 4 Pro (PS4 Pro), plus its new and upcoming PS5 consoles. However, he’s hoping that it doesn’t come to that point.
Earlier in May this year, the US’ Trump administration signed an executive order that not only banned US companies from dealing with specific Chinese companies but also hit China with a US$200 billion (~RM825 billion) tariff. Worse still, the US is still thinking about expanding that tariff by a further US$300 billion (~RM1.23 trillion) in products. Including Sony’s PlayStation consoles.
It’s easy to understand Sony’s plight; the majority of parts used in the manufacturing of its PS console originate from factories within China. On top of that, the factory that manufactures said consoles is also based in China.
Of course, passing down the cost to its customers isn’t the only option on Sony’s table. The Japanese giant could opt to move its manufacturing plant out of China, and to another country, much like what Samsung and Apple recently decided to do.
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