Last week, Sony Corporation surprised many in the industry by abruptly announcing its decision to completely exit the mobile electronics business by the end of this year. Interestingly, the company chose to reveal this news via only one channel: through an emailed statement that went directly to dealers.
See more on this latest example of Sony shedding its hardware businesses…
I saw this news first on CEOutlook, which, by the way, I recommend for those of you participating in the mobile electronics business. However, it took about a nanosecond for the news to quickly swirl around the entire car audio news ecosystem.
Sony, like most Japanese manufacturers, is on an April 1 fiscal year. Therefore, as I’ve written about before, they are deep into fiscal 2027 planning. In most cases, these companies put everything on the table, including some scary alternatives. And Sony, as I’ve written about extensively, is in the middle of a multi-year business transformation that recently resulted in the sale of its total AV division to China’s TCL.
Not a Total Surprise to Those Paying Attention
So, Sony’s decision to shutter its mobile electronics business is not a total surprise for those paying attention. Furthermore, just in 2024, the company withdrew from the European car audio market, kind of setting the template for what was likely to happen in North America. The company ended all mobile electronics shipments to Europe at the end of December 2024.
Sony’s announcement sent to dealers last week notified them that products will continue to ship until December 31, 2026. The company further reassured dealers that they will be able to continue to work with Sony directly for support starting January 1, 2027, with field, sales, technical, and warranty support continuing. That factory-direct support, however, will only continue until March 31, 2027…the end of the current fiscal year. Then?…
Sony Was a Multi-Year Multi-Award-Winning Mobile Electronics Brand
Several industry reports of the news noted that Sony was a multiple-award-winning brand in the car audio industry, with dozens of awards from multiple sources over the years. Other reports hailed the many notable Sony car audio innovations over the years. Perhaps the innovation with the greatest influence on the overall mobile electronics industry was the 1984 introduction of CD audio into the car environment.
But soon all that would be behind them. Dealers, most of whom already carry multiple brands, have about 90 days to adjust their product portfolios around the exit of Sony.
Sony Pulls Out of CES 2027
In the meantime, the company has announced that it will not exhibit at CES 2027, typically its biggest showing of the year. The reason given for pulling out of CES 2027? Sony cites a shift toward entertainment and creator technology, according to a report by Mobile Electronics.
See Sony Mobile and Marine electronics by following this link…
Sony seems busy transforming its business model over to AI compute, chips, sensors and memory and placing its future on AI especially in the multi modal area of vision for robotics, vehicles and drones…