Падіння попиту і технічні збої: Sony згортає продажі Xperia в Європі
Sony has faced a decline in demand for its Xperia smartphones, and the company is starting to respond to the weak demand. After stopping global sales of the flagship Xperia 1 VII due to technical problems, Sony is completely withdrawing from the Finnish market and considering similar steps in other countries.
Xperia 1 VII was an interesting smartphone with a top-end processor Snapdragon 8 Elite. Unlike most competitors, Sony has retained a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD card slot. In addition, the company equipped the telephoto camera with a real zoom lens. But even such features did not help to hold the position, and the Japanese company’s sales were significantly lower than those of many competitors. According to Insider MonkeyIn the first half of 2024, Sony’s share of the global smartphone market was only 3.5%, slightly higher than HMD Global, ZTE, and Asus, but significantly lower than Samsung.
Recently sales of Xperia 1 VII have been suspended worldwide due to a growing number of user complaints about freezes and sudden shutdowns. The reasons for the failure have not yet been made public. Meanwhile, Sony has confirmed to the Finnish edition Suomimobiilithat the supply of Xperia smartphones in Europe will continue to be limited. In Finland, some models will not be available at all. In other European countries, Sony smartphones will mostly be available only from the brand’s official online store and Amazon, meaning that local retailers will no longer be able to sell them.
Suomimobiili also suggests that Sony is preparing to completely curtail smartphone sales in Europe. Instead, the company says it will fulfill all warranty obligations and release the previously promised software updates. Sony explains that it is constantly analyzing demand and profitability to decide whether to sell Xperia devices in certain regions.
According to Bloomberg, citing IDC data, Sony’s smartphone sales in Japan fell by 40% in 2023. After that, the company did not publish any official statistics on Xperia series sales.
It seems that Sony is preparing to gradually wind down its presence in the European smartphone market. Despite the technical originality of the devices, the company cannot withstand the competition.
Source: Suomimobiili, notebookcheck