Sony Planning to Cut Half its Smartphone Workforce: Report

The company had laid off 2,000 employees after shutting down four smartphone manufacturing facilities in 2009

A report published by Nikkei Asian Review claims that Japan based electronics giant Sony may be planning to lay off half of its smartphone workforce by 2020. The report, if found to be true, will result in as many as 2,000 people ending up with no jobs. It is to be noted here that Sony has been struggling in terms of smartphone sales in almost all of its markets.

Sony and smartphone market

Sony had sold around 13.5 million phones in 2017 accounting year. The company in April 2018 had estimated that it will sell 10 million devices in 2018. However, the figures were revised to nine million later that year. Interestingly, all other divisions of Sony are contributing good revenues for the company. It is only the smartphone business that Sony is lacking behind in.

A report by Statista had revealed that out of a total 1.6 billion smartphones shipped during 2018, Sony had shipped only 10 million. However, Sony has not backed down from introducing a new smartphone in 2019. The company, like many of its competitors, has unveiled the flagship Xperia 1 at the Mobile World Congress 2019.

History of lay-offs

This is not the first time that Sony will be cutting off people from its workforce. The company had laid off 2,000 employees after shutting down four smartphone manufacturing facilities in 2009.

Sony had also cut 1,000 jobs from its smartphone department in 2015. Interestingly, any reports of Sony downsizing workforce from any other departments have not surfaced so far.