• The Middle East & Africa region is a strategically important growth market for Sony Mobile
• Xperia XZ Premium, winner of several top industry awards including ‘Best Smartphone at MWC 2017’, leads innovation push

Dubai, UAE, May 6, 2017:  Sony Mobile Communications has shown strong global financial performance by reporting a profit of 10.2 Billion Yen (US$ 91 Million) this year, as per financial results from the company. 

Continuing its growth trend, Sony Mobile expects to increase annual smartphone unit sales by 1.9 million year-on-year, mainly in the Middle East and Europe, to 16.5 million units. Sales revenue is expected to increase 8 per cent year-on-year to 820 Billion Yen, which will be a record operating income for Sony Mobile.

Sony Mobile has put emphasis on higher value-added models to achieve profitability. Operating results improved significantly mainly due to a reduction in operating costs and benefit from restructuring initiatives. Further improvement in profitability resulted from a concentration on fewer geographic areas and a reduction in restructuring charges.

Jason Smith, Vice President, Middle East & Africa at Sony Mobile Communications said: “Advances included in our new smartphones have positioned us as a technological leader in the global market and our innovation gives us confidence for the future. Our latest award-winning smartphone, Xperia XZ Premium, features the world’s 1st Super slow motion video capture via a smartphone at 960 frames per second, four times slower than with any other smartphone. Other products to address the mid-range of the market launched this year include Xperia XA1, the XA1 Ultra and the Xperia L1.”

Hideyuki Furumi, Executive Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing, Sony Mobile Communications said: “We are committed to the vision of offering personalised and intelligent products to the market and continue to push the boundaries of communication through cutting-edge technologies. We are developing Artificial Intelligence apps on our phones. We have continued to evolve and transform our smartphone portfolio, with an unwavering focus on delivering the most advanced technology in elegantly designed products. We expect to see a good next year financially, with a range of new products and increasing smartphone unit sales.”

Sony Corporation, of which Sony Mobile is a division, is targeting its highest annual operating profit in two decades, thanks to continued dominance in gaming and strong growth in phone-camera chips. Operating profit is on track to reach 500 Billion Yen for the fiscal year through March 2018, which will be more than that posted in any year since 1998.