A couple of months ago, mobile phone maker HTC packed its bags and left Indian shores for good and now its Japanese counterpart Sony has also decided to shut shop for mobiles in India and some other countries.
Sony has been going through a tough time with its mobile division, has laid out its plans for the future at a corporate strategy meeting.
The mobile division, which was merged with the TV, audio and camera division two months back has planned on pulling out of several markets to focus on a narrower client base.
These markets include India, along with Australia, Canada, Mexico, South America and the Middle East.
Most of the critics have cited the company’s pricing strategies as one of the biggest reasons of their capitulation.
Sony’s Mobile communications division reported a sales drop of 26.8 percent in the first quarter of 2018 and this was due to a decrease in unit sales of smartphones mainly in Europe and Japan.
It’s true that Sony had been offering its customers something out-of -the-box and premium with features like a super slo-mo camera, water-proofing and 4K HDR recording. But, this territory is dangerously close to where a Samsung or Apple is already dominant.
Not to mention that Chinese smartphone makers like Xiaomi and Honor have also been offering great specifications at competitive pricing. How is a Sony supposed to survive?
Smartphone brands like Motorola, Karbonn and Micromax have also suffered the wrath of the Chinese takeover. On that note, Gionee, is one of the few Chinese brands that didn’t fare well in India.
Sony’s main goal now, according to a GSMArena report, is to make its global smartphone business profitable starting 2020.
(With inputs from GSMArena)
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