Sony Ericsson issues warning of falling profits to investors

The W-series is one of Sony Ericsson's bright spots
The W-series is one of Sony Ericsson's bright spots

Sony Ericsson, the Swedish-Japanese mobile phone manufacturer, has hit out at a "challenging" market ahead of a warning that its profits are likely to suffer.

The announcement is indicative of the recent economic downturn that is affecting these manufacturers, especially those competing in the high-end markets.

The company stated that "moderating demand" was responsible for the profit warning, as well as delays to shipments for new models.

The mobile market is being hit hard at the moment, with research firm Gartner reporting a 16.4 per cent drop in global sales compared to the same time year, according to the Financial Times.

Beaten by LG

SE fell to fifth place in the mobile manufacturer worldwide rankings this year, behind the surging LG from South Korea, which has enjoyed success with models such as the Viewty and the Voyager.

SE saw its share of the mobile market fall a further one per cent to eight, although it will be hoping that the continued success of the Walkman series, coupled with high-profile launches such as the forthcoming Xperia X1, will help it to maintain presence.

The company has also begun to focus more strongly on emerging markets of late, with the release of budget models such as the J132, a feature-light and robust model.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.