Sony reaffirms position in mobile business, opens first factory in 20 years

By David Curry October 22, 2015

sony opens first mobile factory in 20 years xperia z5 compact — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Any suggestion of Sony’s imminent withdrawal from the smartphone industry would now appear to be nothing more than hot air, as the Japanese company has announced its first mobile factory in 20 years. The announcement comes a few months after the launch of the Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact, and Z5 Premium, the first Xperia phones in a long time to offer groundbreaking features.

The factory, based in Thailand’s Pathum Thani province, should be home to most of the Xperia manufacturing. Sony is reportedly investing “several billion yen” in the factory, equating to several tens of millions of dollars, though an exact amount has not been disclosed.

Initial output should be a few million units a year, starting in 2016. Sony fully owns the factory, unlike its last mobile factory venture in Beijing, China, where it co-owned the site with three other smaller manufacturers.

That should give Sony more room to change production and the design of the floor, unless the company plans to rent out some of the space. Xperia smartphones will be the main products manufactured, though wearables and tablets could be added on in the future.

This does reaffirm Sony’s position in the mobile industry, despite chief executive Kazuo Hirai claiming last month that if Sony doesn’t reach profitability in the mobile market by 2016 it may look at other options.

Sony is definitely swimming against the tide with the new move, as more manufacturers move away from factory ownership. Apple turned around its entire business by dropping its factories and using contracted manufacturers to build the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, one of Tim Cook’s smartest decisions back in the late 90s.

Other mobile vendors like HTC, Motorola, and Microsoft have also shut down factories in the past five years, though for different reasons. In HTC’s case, it needed to start saving money, Motorola was acquired by Lenovo and was forced to use Lenovo’s Chinese factories, and Microsoft shut down all of Nokia’s mobile factories in India and China after acquiring the Finnish mobile vendor in 2013.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

David has been writing about technology for several years, following the latest trends and covering the largest events. He is…

Mobile

Sony’s $1,800 Xperia Pro-I phone shares features with RX100 VII compact camera

Xperia Pro-I phone

The Sony Xperia Pro-I is the latest smartphone from the company for the camera-features-focused niche Pro audience. The $1,800 phone sports a 1-inch stacked CMOS sensor with built-in memory and phase-detection autofocus. It is the same as the one inside Sony's RX100 VII compact camera which we proclaimed one of the best point-and-shoot cameras in our review. The smartphone comes with a dedicated shutter button on the right edge, and Zeiss Tessar calibrated optics.

In the name Xperia Pro-I, the "I" stands for Imaging. It features a 6.5-inch 4K HDR (3840 x 1644 pixels) OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, a 21:9 aspect ratio, and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. It is powered by the Snapdragon 888 chipset, paired with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage, which is expandable up to 1TB. It packs a 4,500mAh battery with support for 30W fast charging.

Gaming

The PS5 is turning a profit for Sony less than a year after launch

Two versions of the PS5 side by side.

With record hardware sales to boast, Sony has announced that the PS5 is no longer selling at a loss, or at least one version of it isn't. The console's more expensive variant, which costs $500 and comes complete with a disk drive, is now generating nothing but profit for Sony according to a report from Bloomberg.

While the physical version of the PS5 is making money for Sony, the same can't be said for the diskless version of the next-gen console. However, according to Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki, the $400 PS5 Digital Edition's costs are being offset by other hardware sales, including continued sales of the PlayStation 4. It's not clear when, or if, the diskless version of the PS5 will begin to return a profit for Sony based on sales alone.

Emerging Tech

Sony’s first drone, the Airpeak S1, rockets to 55 mph in just 3.5 seconds

sony airpeak s1 drone news close

Sony has announced its first drone, the Airpeak S1, and it will out-accelerate the competition by rocketing to 50 miles per hour in just 3.5 seconds and on to a maximum speed of 55.9mph. That makes it the fastest accelerating drone in the industry. It’s not competing with small consumer drones like the DJI Mavic Air 2, however -- this is a large pro-level drone designed to carry a gimbal and a full-size camera, ready for commercial use in the skies. And it costs $9,000.

The Airpeak S1 has a 644mm total span, making it similar in size to the DJI Inspire 2 but far more capable in terms of payload and ability. It's the smallest drone that can carry a full-size mirrorless Sony Alpha camera equipped with interchangeable lenses. It uses five stereo cameras and two infrared cameras along with Sony’s new Vision Sensing Processor, and power is delivered using a new propulsion system using brushless motors, and an internal battery for a flight time of up to 22 minutes. Sony promises excellent stability during windy conditions too, stating it will remain steady even when wind speed reaches 44mph or 20 meters per second.