Sony Mobile Communications

History

2025: Liquidation of the Russian division

Sony Mobile Communications Rus, the Russian division of Sony Mobile Communications, ceased to exist, completing self-liquidation. The corresponding entry appeared in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities in August 2025. The date of termination of activities is indicated on August 11, 2025. Documents for liquidation were submitted FEDERAL TAX SERVICE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION on October 10, 2024. The company had already tried to self-isolate in December 2023, but was then refused. The main Russian legal entity Sony Sony Electronics is still operating.^[1]

2019

Liquidation of Mobile Communications division and transfer of mobile business to Electronics Products & Solutions

Japanese company Sony announced a large-scale reorganization in March 2019, during which it will close its mobile division Mobile Communications (MC), which manufactures smartphones. In recent years, it has brought the company only losses, which is due to its^[2] of^[3].

However, Sony is not leaving the smartphone market - it will continue to release portable gadgets, and this will be the responsibility of the new division of Electronics Products & Solutions (EP&S). The changes will take effect on April 1, 2019. In total, Sony will close three divisions - the departments of Imaging Products & Solutions (IP&S), Home Entertainment & Sound (HE&S) will disappear from the company's structure next Monday. According to official figures, they, like MC, will also be included in the EP & S.

Sony's mobile business cannot profit from year to year - according to Counterpoint, it is not even in the top five manufacturers, behind not only Apple and Samsung, but also Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo. One likely reason is the overpriced models compared to counterparts of other brands. For example, the flagship 2018 Xperia XZ2 Premium went on sale in Russia in July 2018 at a price of 80 thousand rubles, having a non-standard design, a considerable thickness of 12 mm and weighing 236 grams. In foreign countries, $1000 was asked for it (64.8 thousand rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate as of March 29, 2019). At the time of release, it was more expensive than the Apple iPhone X.

Reducing 50% of staff in the mobile business

At the end of March 2019, it became known about the mass layoffs of Sony employees involved in the development, sale and production of smartphones. The company will cut half of the corresponding jobs - 2000 out of 4000.

According to Nikkei, the liquidation of working positions will be completed by March 2020. Personnel cleaning is carried out as part of a program to reduce costs in the telephone business and change the procurement system.

Sony smartphones are selling worse, forcing the company to cut staff

Some Japanese Sony employees who have fallen under the cuts will move to work in other divisions of the company, and in Europe and China, employees will be offered voluntary dismissal with compensation.

The 50 percent reduction in staff in the mobile business came to light days after the relevant division was merged with structures specializing in the production of digital cameras, televisions and other consumer electronics.

The layoffs were a necessary measure, given the fall in both the entire smartphone market and Sony itself in them.According to the Statistica portal, in 2019 the share of the Japanese corporation in global smartphone sales fell below 1%, and in 2010 it exceeded 3%. Sony is getting harder to compete with leading Apple,  Samsung Electronics and Huawei, which have staged a race in the development of 5G devices, Nikkei notes.

The publication reminds that earlier in the mobile division of Sony there were already reductions. So, in the 2014 fiscal year, about 1000 employees lost their jobs. But sales at the company are declining faster than expected, pushing it toward more layoffs.

Sony has been forced to scale back its phone business in some regions, including Southeast Asia. The company focused on the European market and East Asian countries in 2019.^[4]

Closing the main plant to relieve the phone business of losses

On March 28, 2019, Sony announced the closure of the main smartphone factory. A Japanese corporation is cutting costs in hopes of returning the phone business to profit.

According to a Sony spokesman told Reuters news agency, the company will cease operations in Beijing by the end of March 2019, and the production of devices at this facility will be transferred to a factory in Thailand. How many jobs will be reduced at the same time is not specified.

Sony closes main smartphone factory in hopes of sparing phone business losses

After stopping the Chinese factory, Sony will have only one own factory where smartphones are made (in Thailand). The company is also partnering with third-party contract manufacturers who assemble electronics on orders.

Sony stressed that the decision to close the plant is not related to the deterioration of trade relations between the United States and China. This step is due to the company's desire to reduce operating costs in order to make the mobile division break even at the end of the financial year, which will begin in April 2020.

According to the results of the reporting 12-month period, which will end on March 31, 2019, the company expects operating losses in the telephone division at the level of 95 billion yen ($853 million) on revenue of 490 billion yen (about $4.4 billion).

Closing the smartphone business looks like a logical step given the declining sales of these devices. At the end of fiscal year 2018, Sony predicts sales of 6.5 million pipes, which is half as much as a year earlier. The company has downgraded its forecast for smartphone sales several times during the year. Sony's market share fell below 1%.

Despite all the problems, Sony is not going to sell or close the smartphone division. Instead, the company plans to reorganize and change its work strategy.^[5]

2014: Sony lost billions of dollars on smartphones and fired the head of Sony Mobile

Sony recorded in October 2014 in its mobile division in the second quarter of the 2014-2015 financial year ended September 30, an operating loss of 172 billion yen ($1.6 billion). A year earlier, the company made a profit of 8.8 billion yen, according to a published report by the company.

Sony Mobile's revenue amounted to 308.4 billion yen ($2.8 billion), which is slightly higher compared to the same period last year (304.6 billion yen).

Commenting on the company's business situation, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai said last month that Sony is under serious competitive pressure from Chinese smartphone manufacturers. Once in the top five, Sony lost market position to companies such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo.

Xiaomi in the third quarter of 2014, according to IDC, entered the Top 5 manufacturers for the first time, and immediately took third place. Lenovo took fourth place.

Due to increased competition, Sony lowered its projected smartphone sales for the entire current fiscal year. The corporation expects to supply 41 million devices to the world market. In July 2014, the company predicted shipments of 43 million devices, and in April - 50 million^[6].

2011

Redemption of Ericsson's stake in Sony Ericsson JV

On October 27, 2011, it became known that the Japanese corporation Sony and the Swedish manufacturer of communication equipment Ericsson announced that Ericsson had agreed to sell its 50 percent stake in the joint venture Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications.

Recall that rumors about the possible acquisition of Ericsson's stake by Sony have been circulating for a long time. As a result, Sony became the owner of a 100 percent share of the mobile phone joint venture. The deal amounted to 1.05 billion euros. It is planned to close it in January 2012.

According to the official statement, the deal will allow Sony "to complement the growing portfolio of consumer Internet devices, including tablets, TVs and personal computers." In addition, it will allow the Japanese corporation to expand its portfolio of patents related to communication technologies.

By integrating Sony Ericsson's assets and own assets under a single roof, Sony expects to create a better ecosystem of Sony products that will include smartphones, tablets, personal computers and TVs, as well as Sony PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, which the company is actively promoting on mobile devices, said Sony President and CEO Howard Stringer.

In turn, the head of Ericsson Hans Vestberg added that after the sale of his stake in the joint venture, the Swedish company plans to focus on communication technologies - that is, on the profile business.

The Sony Ericsson trademark is likely to cease to exist.

Sony Ericsson share dynamics in the cell phone and smartphone market

Mobile phone and smartphone sales leaders from 1992 to 2018 in animation below.

Development centers in Beijing, Silicon Valley, Lund and Tokyo

Beijing, Lund, Silicon Valley, Tokyo (October 2011 data)

2010: Move from Microsoft OS to Android and go to profit

In 2010 Sony Ericsson , it delivered 43.1 million mobile devices to the market, compared to 57.1 million a year earlier. The company's revenue shrank from €6.79 billion to €6.294 billion. In 2010, the company made a profit, recording it at around 90 million euros, a year earlier the loss amounted to 836 million euros.

In 2010, the vendor abandoned operating system Microsoft and switched to, Android releasing the Xperia X8.

According to Gartner, in the second quarter of 2011, Sony Ericsson was the tenth largest mobile phone manufacturer, behind Motorola, Huawei, HTC, RIM and other companies.

• Market share of 11% in the Android smartphone sector (as of Q3 2011).
• 80% of the company's sales were smartphones (based on Android OS).

2008: Announcement of the Xperia line on the Windows Phone platform

In 2008, the vendor announced a new line of devices - Xperia - which was supposed to include high-tech models. The first device of the family was the Xperia X1 communicator on the Windows Phone platform.

2007: SonyEricsson P1 hit release on Symbian OS

In 2007, the SonyEricsson P1 smartphone was released, which became one of the most popular devices of the company. The device was based on Symbian with a UIQ touchscreen graphical interface, had a physical keyboard of an abbreviated format and a stylus for working with a touchscreen.

2005: Release of the first mobile phones

The company gained the greatest fame after 2005, when the first mobile phones were presented under brands borrowed from Sony - Cyber-shot K750i and Walkman W800. The former were positioned as camera phones, the latter as devices with a dedicated musical component.

2001: SonyEricsson Joint Venture Launch

SonyEricsson began operating on October 1, 2001. The joint work agreement was concluded for 10 years, and in 2011 the parties refused to renew it^[7].

Notes