Sony hasn’t been the go-to brand when it comes to smartphones especially when there are many other strong competitors in the market. The company has already been shutting down stores in different regions, and it’s not stopping.
Sony has announced that the company will only focus on four countries — Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Europe while places like Australia, Africa, India and Middle East are the few that will be defocused. It is assumed that this strategy is to prevent the business from operating at a loss, so that the smartphone segment of the company will actually turn into a profitable business.
That doesn’t mean Sony has lost its faith in smartphones though. In fact, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida believes that smartphones are “necessary to make our hardware brand sustainable”. We won’t know if the current strategy will work, but it is a risk Sony will have to take.
In the meantime, Slashgear reported that those who are not in the countries Sony focuses on can still purchase their Sony smartphone. The only downside is that the phone might not come with warranty and might face some compatibility issues.