Sony Expects To Hit Profit Target, Thanks To PlayStation 4 Sales

Sony told investors on Wednesday that it expects to hit its profit target for the year thanks to the greater than expected growth of the PlayStation 4, but also warned of further decline in the smartphone market that is affecting its image-sensor business, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sony’s PlayStation 4 video game console has sold more than 40 million units since its debut in 2013, which has made the product Sony’s fastest selling game console ever and puts it ahead of its rivals in Microsoft’s Xbox One and the Nintendo Wii U systems. Sony also told investors that its PlayStation Plus subscription service saw a dramatic increase in subscribers since last year, growing to 20.8 million members in March from 10.9 million in January of 2015.

That was the good news that Sony Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai delivered to investors this week.

The bad news?

The falloff in the sale of the Apple iPhone has adversely affected the company’s own business in sensors, which are used in the iPhone’s camera.

Sony projected its sensor division would have sales of ¥1.3 trillion to ¥1.5 trillion by March 2018, but Hirai cuts those expectations to ¥1 trillion on Wednesday.

However, he noted that Sony expects sales of its sensor products to increase in the future due to the rise in demand for surveillance cameras, cameras in motor vehicles and the drone camera market.