Sony to continue selling Xperia smartphones

Sony will continue to sell its Xperia phones in the highly competitive smartphone market. CEO Kaz Hirai confirmed in a media interview, that Sony is not considering an exit from the smartphone market, rather it is planning to have some devices "connected to a network" to retain its market presence in the communications business. He also appeared to be positive with the growth of the company's image-sensor business that contributed largely to the company's annual profit last year.

Hoirai told The Guardian, the prime reason of continuing its presence in the smartphone market was not because of considering smartphones as the future but to give Sony the chance to play in the growing field of communications. "It'snot about the smartphones of today; it's more about looking beyond smartphones - at what are we going to be doing - and to be a player in this space; ideally to be a leader," he said.

According to commentators, the statement provided by Hirai certainly puts an end to all speculation that suggested the exit of Sony's Xperia range from the smartphone market thanks to stiff competition from Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy lines. Also, the assertions serve to re-focus on the fact that the company has no plans to sell or close its mobile business unit, as Hirai himself affirmed initially back in July 2015.

They add that besides Sony, Apple, Samsung and LG are also looking for a future beyond smartphones. They point out that Sony was in fact the first to drop out of the wearable segment, which was widely seen to offer opportunities to the companies beyond smartphones.

Hirai effectively realised that no major adoption around smartwatches existed, and discontinued company's wearable lineup two years after he took over as CEO.