Sony is back on the path to future growth following the restructuring of its electronics business that began three years ago, company chief executive Kazuo Hirai told attendees at an event ahead of the opening of the IFA consumer electronics exhibition in Berlin.
‘We were making difficult choices about how to position Sony for continued growth while at the asme time cultivating a culture of aggressive innovation,” he said. “The reforms we have made over the past three and a half years have reset our enterprise and refocused our efforts.”
Sony said it doubled its TV sales volume and market share in Europe in the past two years.
The company showed off everything from new mobile phones to super slim TVs and high-resolution audio devices as it pledged to keep up with the increasing pace at which new products are being introduced into the market.
“We at Sony recognise the competitive landscape and that the stakes are very high,” he said, adding that the company was investing heavily in the businesses it saw as driving Sony’s future growth.
“I also strongly believe there is a lot of potential for innovation within the consumer electronics space,” he said.
Sony has added to its Xperia mobile phone lineup with a trio of new mobile phones that include what the company says is the world’s first 4K handset.
Ahead of the opening of the IFA electronics show in Berlin, Sony unveiled the new Z5 range, which includes the standard flagship Xperia Z5, the smaller Z5 Compact, and the new Z5 Premium.
The 5.5 inch Z5 includes a fingerprint scanner built into the power button, a full HD display and a 23 megapixel camera. The flagship phone is also fully waterproof and dustproof, and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor.
The phone also claims to have a two-day battery life when used with its stamina battery mode. The Z5 Compact comes with a 4.6 inch display, and keeps the same camera as the bigger handset.
Sony said it had redesigned the camera module, which originally appeared in the Z1, for the new phones. The latest handsets will have a new Exmor RS for mobile sensor, with improved autofocus speeds and technology that was designed for the company’s Alpha range of interchangeable lens cameras.
The Z5 Premium, meanwhile, to be the word’s first 4K phone. The phone not only displays native 4K content, but it will also upscale media on your phone to improve the resolution of standard definition or high definition footage.
The new standard, 4K has around four times the resolution of high definition footage. It is currently being pushed by TV makers who are hoping it will persuade consumers to upgrade their televisions to the newer technology. A lack of content may have hampered adoption in the early days of 4K, but content producers are getting on board with the new standard, with Netflix among those companies offering video in 4K to customers.
The Z5 Premium can also capture footage in 4K, and can connect wirelessly to a compatible TV via DLNA to display the video on a larger screen.
The company recently announced its follow-up to the Smart Band, the Smart Band 2, which comes with a built in heart rate sensor.
Samsung has also jumped back into wearables, with the circular Galaxy Gear S2. The Tizen-based watch comes with voice capability, and an e-sim to bring functions to the watch without the need to be tethered to a phone.
“Samsung has pioneered and led the wearables category over the last few years, bringing exciting new innovations into the market,” said Conor Pierce, Vice President, IT & Mobile Division, Samsung Electronics UK and Ireland.
“The Samsung Gear S2 is the most exciting smartwatch to date and offers customers a completely new wearable experience.”
It also comes with NFC, which paves the way for it to be used with mobile payments services such as Samsung Pay.
The IFA conference in Berlin opens officially on Friday and closes on September 9th.
