Sony may be planning to reduce its focus on markets like India, USA, China and Brazil, according to a report by Xperia Blog. The website claims to have received slides from a recently-held investor meet, which show that the company expects its smartphone business in these markets to grow by only 0.3 percent as compared to last year’s estimate of 8.1 percent. Sony will instead target regions that are expected to have an improved Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). These include East Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Further, the company may also choose to “preserve” its business in Latin America.
One of the slides show that the company expects growth only in the entry/mid-tier segments, but expects competition from Chinese and Indian manufacturers to intensify. Further, the same slide also notes that the company may choose to maintain its focus on the high value-added segment and develop business through product differentiation as “players that can offer high value-added smartphones globally are limited”. It should also be noted that just because Sony may be planning to “defocus” on India and other markets doesn’t mean that it plans to pull out its smartphones. It could mean that it may choose to focus less on its marketing effects on these regions.