Sony as a smartphone brand
When it comes to the premium range of smartphones we only think about Apple, Samsung and Oneplus. We have almost forgotten Sony as a smartphone company. Sony is one of the oldest smartphone manufacturers in the world. If you are a person who has good knowledge of smartphones then you probably knew why Sony is a special and bit different from other brands like Samsung or Oneplus. In the beginning, Sony launched their mobile phones with the name of Sony Ericsson. You may remember those unique looking phones with small green logo. At that time Sony Ericsson was the most popular mobile phone brand. Those mobile phones were so popular because of there unique design and awesome audio quality. But then after Sony Ericcson became Sony Xperia and came up with not just a phone but the smartphone.
Sony Ericcson to Sony Xperia
Sony Ericsson was part of Symbian Ltd. (Symbian Ltd. was a software company, known for the Symbian Operating System). The first smartphone from the Sony Ericcson was Sony Ericcson P800 and it was launched in 2002. In 2005, Sony Ericcson introduced the K750i with a 2-megapixel camera. K750i attracted many mobile phone users because of its good quality camera and the Walkman feature. Sony introduces their first smartphone with Windows Os. In 2008, the Xperia X1, in Barcelona. This phone was manufactured with HTC. But by 2010 Sony Ericcson switched their focus on Google’s Android operating system.
On October 27, 2011, Sony announced that it would acquire Ericcson’s stake for 1.47 billion USD. At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony announced that Sony Ericsson would be simply known as Sony mobile. On February 16, 2012, Sony announced it had completed the full acquisition of Sony Ericsson. And the company moved their headquarter to Tokyo, Japan from Sweden. At that time Sony mobile became fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.
In, 2013, Sony introduced a series of the Xperia smartphone. Sony Xperia Z and Sony Xperia ZL were announced at Consumer Electronics Show, 2013. Since then Sony is producing their smartphones under the Xperia series.
Sony Xperia in India
Sony Xperia launched many smartphones in India and became very popular as a smartphone brand. Those smartphones had an awesome camera and audio quality. They started making their smartphones with serious-looking design. They stopped making unique looking phones. Their every smartphone were pretty much identical. For a few years, Sony Xperia became one of the topmost smartphone selling brand in India. But suddenly Sony Xperia experienced a major drawback in the Indian market. Sony’s share in the Indian market was almost negligible at 0.01%.
Sony Xperia was quite popular in the Indian smartphone market until the Chinese smartphone manufacturer knocked on the door of the Indian smartphone market. Sony Xperia was introducing their smartphone with a premium price tag. Chinese brands started launching their smartphone with the same specification but with a lower price tag as compared to Sony.
People in India want a powerful smartphone in their hand, and if they can get a powerful smartphone under Rs.20,000 then why would they spent Rs.40,000 on a Smartphone. Yes, there are many people in India who want to use only the premium smartphones, they are now looking forward towards the smartphone manufacturer like Apple, Oneplus, Samsung or Huawei.
The main reason behind the Sony Xperia failed in India was the pricing of their smartphones. They refused to low their price even after suffering heavy losses. CEO of Sony said, “That is where the value is, that is where the money is”.
In 2019, Sony announced that it will exit the smartphone market of India, South America, South Asia and Africa. The company decided to focus only on the market of Japan, Taiwan, HongKong and Europe. This news was not very shocking for Indians as they already have forgotten Sony Xperia, but it was a kind of bad news for many loyal fans of Sony Xperia.
In present days Sony Xperia is still launching their high-end smartphones like Sony Xperia 10, Xperia 10 Plus, Sony Xperia L4, Sony Xperia 1, Xperia 1.1 etc. These phones are giving tough competition to the premium smartphone brands like Oneplus, Apple or Samsung. But the truth is Sony Xperia is still not able to dominate the other premium brands in terms of sell.
These latest smartphones are like mouth-watering food for Sony fans in India. Sony fans in India still want Sony Xperia to hit India again. Many people believe that Sony will launch their Xperia smartphone in India in the upcoming future, though there is no official announcement regarding the relaunch of Sony Xperia in India.
