Sony Plans To Focus More On Its Xperia Flagship Smartphones

Sony has confirmed plans to discontinue its “Premium Standard” segment of its Xperia Android smartphone line for its future portfolio. The company said that it will now only focus on making flagship and mid-range devices only going forward.

Sony confirmed its plan during its 2017 Investor Day. Smartphones under the Xperia X and Xperia X Compact line from 2016 are included under the “Premium Standard” tier that will be discontinued, according to the XperiaBlog.

Those devices were marketed as affordable smartphones with flagship-like specifications. However, consumers’ response to the Xperia X and X Compact weren’t all that positive resulting to lackluster sales.

In Japan, these phones were able to hit 85 percent of its intended volume targets for the year, but that number fell down to 31 percent when it reached international markets. Globally, Sony was only able to hit 43 percent of its targets for its Xperia X and Xperia X Compact line. In contrast, the 2016 Xperia X Performance and Xperia XZ was able to exceed domestic targets at 88 percent.

Now that Sony plans to focus on flagship and mid-range devices moving forward, the company wants to recover its market share in 2017. This means that its recently announced Xperia XZ Premium and XZs flagships, and its mid-range Xperia X1 and XA1 Ultra will have to perform well.

The company says that it intends to differentiate itself from the competition by offering features and technologies that only Sony can deliver. The company has been keen on delivering 4K HDR displays and super slow motion video recording on its flagships, so it’s safe to say that Sony will continue doing so moving forward.

The phone maker also plans to focus on countries and regions where the Sony brand is most popular, this includes Japan, East Asia, APAC, Middle Eat and Europe. Sony also has its eyes set on India, but the company wants to move into the country with caution as it’s currently being dominated by more affordable phones.

Sony won’t actually completely let go of the North American market either as it plans to boost advertising in the region. The company will continue to sell and support its Xperia X and X Compact line in the U.S., but consumers should expect Sony’s portfolio to be smaller in the near future.

“Our focus in the US market has been with flagship and mid-range devices,” Sony Mobile senior director of marketing Don Mesa told TechRadar. “That said, we continue to sell and support the Xperia X and X Compact smartphones in the US. The portfolio moving forward is to consolidate the range to two key areas that we have been concentrating on in this market.”

Right now, Sony is expected to unveil at least two more flagship devices this year. “We do not comment on future projects,” Mesa said when asked about it. It’s being speculated that Sony might announce its new flagships at IFA 2017 in Berlin, Germany which kicks off on Sept. 1 and ends on Sept. 6.