Bad news for Sony Mobile fans in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa! We heard that the company would shut down its operations and offices in the region by October. Keep reading for more juicy news from us!

Sony Mobile re-evaluation

It’s no secret that Sony Mobile has been going through a tough time for quite some time. Especially after the recent internal CEO shuffle, it seems that the company is considering to evaluate its operation. Part of this motive is to bring it up to speed with Samsung’s successful branding and gaming divisions. And to back up this speculation, veteran leakster Evan Blass has shared some info on his Twitter about Sony doing so. However, we didn’t really take it too seriously; since it ended with a grim prediction of entirely shutting down operations and offices in those countries by October.

In a new development, a Sony rep has confirmed that the company is investigating precisely those three markets. “As part of our ongoing measures to drive profitable growth, we are carefully monitoring the market situation and reviewing our business feasibility in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey“. In our opinion, the statement here is very carefully worded and intentionally vague, so we can’t exactly make any solid conclusion. Besides, there’s a recent Counterpoint report does quote rapidly increasing annual share growth for various Chinese manufacturers in Africa and the Middle East.

In details, 36% annual growth in Quarter 1 of 2018, compared to 15% in 2017. That puts quite a bit of extra pressure on competitors. Plus, Sony has recently gone on record, blaming Xperia sales on slow product lineup improvements. Putting two of them together, we definitely see how a strategic down-size could help the massive Sony Mobile business become more nimble, resourceful and adaptive.

Will things at Sony Mobile turn out for the better?

Hopefully, this will all work out for the best in the end. What’s your personal take on the future of Sony? Tell us in the comment section below!