Sony records profit increase thanks to PS4 but delivery of image sensors is falling

Sony has posted a 33 percent higher quarterly profit in the past quarter thanks to good results from the PlayStation 4 division. The delivery of camera sensors was less good and smartphone deliveries also decreased compared to last year.

The turnover of Sony’s Game & Network Services, which includes PlayStation 4, rose by 10.5 percent to 587.1 billion yen, currently about 4.46 billion euros. It’s no surprise that the division is doing well: Sony recently announced that more than 35 million PS4s have now been sold. In the quarter, shipments totaled 8.4 million consoles, up from 6.4 million in the same quarter last year.

One of the other divisions from which Sony wants to achieve growth is that for camera sensors, but the group is suffering from the declining growth in the smartphone market. The Devices business that includes the sensors achieved quarterly sales that were 12.6 percent lower than in the same period last year.

The sales of Sony’s own Xperia smartphones also fell: from 11.9 million last year to 7.6 million in the past quarter. Sony expects to ship 25 million Xperia devices in its 2015 fiscal year, which also includes the current quarter, which is 36 percent less than the 39.1 million in fiscal 2014.

In total, Sony converted 202.1 billion yen, converted to 19.6 billion euros, in the past quarter. The profit amounted to 913 million euros.