Sony ships 8.7 million smartphones in quarter ended December 2012

Sony has released its latest quarterly statement for the three months to December 2012. The company reported sales of Y1,948 billion and operating income of Y46.4 billion for the group as a whole. On the smartphone side of things, Sony shipped 8.7 million handsets compared to 8.8 million in the prior quarter and maintained full year shipment guidance of 34 million handsets.

The Mobile Communications division was one of the few areas not to see shipments downgraded for the full year. Most other parts of the business saw downgrades, with the PSP/PS Vita seeing a heavy 30% downgrade from 10m to 7m forecast for the full year. Sony Mobile has done relatively well on a year-on-year view with quarterly shipments up by circa 45% over the prior year and revenues of $1.9bn, up by around 20% on the prior year.