Sony's smartphone business is on a downward spiral, but things could change after the Japanese giant decided to acquire Toshiba's image sensor division for a cool $155 million.
Earlier this year, there were talks of a merger between Sony and Toshiba, but instead of a full merger, only a part of Toshiba will be gobbled up by Sony. Several Toshiba employees and its manufacturing facilities will be transferred to the Sony Semiconductor Corporation by the financial year that ends in March 2016.
"Under the agreements, Toshiba will transfer semiconductor fabrication facilities, equipment and related assets of Toshiba's 300mm wafer production line, mainly located at its Oita Operations facility. The purchase price of the Transfer is 19 billion yen. Sony and Toshiba aim to complete the Transfer within the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016, subject to any required regulatory approvals," Sony says.
This interesting move by Sony only goes to show that the company is focusing a lot on its more profitable areas. The company has been very successful in the camera sensor market, as several smartphones and high-end cameras have Sony sensors at the core.
Companies such as Google, Xiaomi and Apple all use Sony-made camera sensors in their devices, and from what we have all seen, these sensors have made it possible for devices from all three companies to take solid images that could rival standalone cameras.
Sadly enough, the camera sensor is the only profitable section of Sony's smartphone push.
The company has failed to make any inroads where the smartphone market is concerned. The company was more successful during the early years of the Sony Ericsson brand, but things slowly turned sideways after Apple launched the first iPhone. Breaking up with Ericsson seemed to have caused a blow as well.
Having ownership of Toshiba's image sensor business isn't a clear sign of success, but it could be a start.
Recently, there were several reports of persons having issues with the company's Xperia Z5 Premium. The main problems seem to stem from the fingerprint scanner. For a corporation on the back foot where the smartphone market is concerned, this is terrible news because word spreads fast over the web.
Photo : Ian Mutto | Flickr
