Sony has been finding it difficult to compete in the intense smartphone market. It has become a three-way fight in the premium segment between Samsung, Huawei, and Apple. On the other hand, there are many strong competitors in the mid-range and budget segments. Sony has been trying hard to maintain its footing but it hasn’t been able to do that very well and that will result in its smartphone business workforce being reduced by 50 percent come 2020.
According to reports, Sony will cut up to half of its smartphone workforce as it battles with declining sales amid strong competition. Sony has seen its smartphone market share fall considerably over the past few years, it’s under 1 percent currently.
Thus the decision has been made to cut the workforce to 2,000 from the current 4,000 by March 2020. This is a move to reduce the fixed costs in the smartphone business. Sony will offer voluntary retirement to affected employees in Europe and China while some of its Japanese employees will be moved to other divisions within the conglomerate.
It may also decide to limit smartphone sales in Southeast Asia and other markets to focus primarily on Europe and East Asia. The company’s smartphone business is expected to post an operating loss for the third straight year through fiscal 2019. It’s aiming to stop the bleeding by reducing some of the fixed costs in the business.
Filed in . Read more about Sony. Source: asia.nikkei