Sony Mobile orders 25 million smartphones from ODMs

According to Taiwan manufacturers, Sony Mobile is about to release orders for 25 million new smartphones, to be placed with a trio of  Taiwan based ODMs. The amount covers half the manufacturer's 50 million unit target it has for shipping smartphones from April 2014 to March 2015. Last year, Sony Mobile started the year with a goal to ship 46 million smartphones. By the time the year ended, that target was dropped to 40 million units. The actual number of smartphones shipped by Sony Mobile last fiscal year, was 39.1 million units.
Despite that downward trend, Sony Mobile had such a good year with its mid to high-end models, that the entire smartphone operation returned to profitability in fiscal 2013. Sony's flagship models had a strong year, starting with the Sony Xperia Z, which wowed the crowd at CES with its ability to withstand a dunking in water. This was followed by the Sony Xperia Z1, the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, and the Sony Xperia Z2.The ODMs expected to be receiving the orders from Sony include FIH Mobile, Compal Communications and Arima Communications. The latter is supposedly being tapped by Sony Mobile to design and produce 10 million to 12 million 3G and 4G handsets, the most among the trio of ODMs that Sony is rumored to be employing.


 source: DigiTimes