The Xperia smartphone business has been unprofitable for several years but Sony never lost hope. It has dramatically downsized operations and lowered costs in past quarters, and now those efforts finally seem to be paying off.

Profit is finally on the horizon for Sony Xperia

During the most recent earnings call, Sony announced that it successfully shipped 800,000 Xperia smartphones in the second quarter of the year. That number is down by only 100,000 units from the same period in 2019.

A drop in shipments is typically frowned upon, but the results this year are especially impressive considering the impact COVID-19 had on demand worldwide. Even more impressive is the fact that Xperia shipments doubled quarter-on-quarter from Q1 2020.

Sony has confirmed that it now expects the Mobile Communications business to post its first yearly profit in four years when it announces fiscal 2020 (April 2020 – March 2021) financial results in April 2021.

The company did not confirm the amount of profit it expects, but it did announce preparations for a switch in the smartphone segment. Sony says the high-end smartphone business is contracting because of COVID-19.

The smartphone industry is slowly shifting towards the mid-range and low-end segments. Sony says this transition is only temporary and that its flagship models will eventually become more popular, but cheaper Xperia devices are now expected to make up a larger share of sales in 2020 and 2021.