Investing.com - Sony Corp (TYO:6758) witnessed a significant drop in its share prices following an underwhelming outlook and the anticipation of a sluggish smartphone market till next year. The company's shares saw their steepest fall in a year by dropping as much as 6.5% during Thursday's morning trading session in Tokyo.
Renowned for supplying image sensors to Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), among other smartphone manufacturers, Sony expressed doubts about the recovery of the smartphone industry until at least next year. This comes despite earlier predictions from the electronics giant about a resurgence in worldwide phone sales later this year.
Analysts such as Kota Ezawa from Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), pointed out that there had been considerable drops across several sectors including movies and semiconductors.
Earnings also took a hit due to weaker-than-projected sales for their leading product, PlayStation 5, within the April-June quarter which sparked worries over increased marketing expenditures required to reach its ambitious target of selling 25 million units this fiscal year.
In recent times, Sony has actively enhanced content offerings but hasn't managed to keep pace with competitors' successful launches like Activision Blizzard Inc's (NASDAQ:ATVI) Diablo IV or Warner Bros. Pictures’ Barbie- both blockbusters during summer; notably, rights to Barbie were previously owned by Sony.