Sony's Sensor Domination Marches On as Record Profits Pour In
- by Nick Cohen
- in Industry
- — Aug 2, 2017
As announced previously, Sony expects to ship 18 million PS4 consoles overall this fiscal year, down from 20 million the year prior. Additionally, 6.7 billion yen and 2.6 billion yen in insurance recoveries, mainly for opportunity losses related to the earthquakes in the Kumamoto region in 2016 ("the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes"), were recorded in the Semiconductors and the IP&S segments, respectively. You can check the out the graph below from the full press release, which compares the results from the final quarter of 2016. Sony, however, noted that it would have increased by 1% under constant currency.
The report reveals that Sony managed to ship 3.3 million units during Q1. The latest sell-through numbers were at 60.4 million units sold to consumers before E3 2017.
Also helping Sony's bottom line was the absence of the damage it suffered from the April 2016 natural disaster in southwestern Japan that shut down its semiconductor plant, and gains from insurance recoveries related to that quake, it said.
Sony has been trying to diversify its revenue sources, and the quarter saw most divisions - music, mobile phone, TV, camera - post profits.
This was due to an increase in PS4 software sales and PS VR sales, but its growth was offset by the impact of the PS4's price reduction that took place in September 2016.
Operating income, meanwhile, for the division came in 17.7 billion, down significantly from the 26.3 billion that the unit brought in during the same period a year ago.
Worldwide sales of the PlayStation 4, released in 2013, totaled 3.3 million units in the first quarter, down from 3.5 million a year earlier.
The results are bound to please investors, who last week drove Sony's shares to a year-to-date high, betting that annual operating profit will eclipse the record 525 billion yen marked in fiscal 1997. Sonys fiscal first quarter profit almost quadrupled compared to a year ago, boosted by its lucrative image sensor and other businesses, highlighting a gradual recovery at the Japanese electronics and entertainment company.
