Sony targets 50 million Xperia smartphone sales in 2013
Sony Mobile expects to ship 50 million Xperia smartphones globally in the calendar year 2013. Sony is banking heavily on the Xperia T and the Xperia TL, featured in the latest James Bond flick, Skyfall. But the biggest factor is the change over to the Taiwan-based original device manufacturers, to keep the costs down. Foxconn is currently the biggest of the three ODMs Sony has on board, followed by Arima and Compal.
Foxconn came on board in the third quarter of this year, while Arima and Compal will start production in the first quarter of 2013. Out of the expected 50 million shipments expected in 2013, more than 20 million will be sourced from these three manufacturers. This estimate comes on the back of recently released figures pegging the Xperia sales for calendar year 2012 at 35 million, which is a 50 percent jump over the previous year.
We don’t really know how Sony plans on making the jump from 35 million to 50 million, particularly when their phones are still relatively inferior on the spec sheet compared to the rivals, though the Xperia Odin might finally bring it to the quad-core bandwagon. Interestingly, there is no confirmation of the Odin, or the 5-inch WhiteMagic display it is supposedly flaunting. This phone may be critical to Sony’s fortunes in 2013, and we expect it to be unveiled at CES 2013.
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