Sony expects image sensor sales to shoot up by 20 percent

09 Jun 2015 , 16:47

Sony expects sales of its image sensors to increase by 100 billion yen ($804 million) to around 550 billion yen in the current business year through next March due to strong demand from Apple and other high-end smartphone makers, a senior executive said.

Tomoyuki Suzuki, head of the Sony’s device solutions business including sensors, also said the company was aiming for a diverse client base, showing he was wary of depending too much on Apple, widely seen as its biggest customer for sensors.

Sensors have emerged as one of Sony’s strongest products in the past few years as its TV and mobile operations struggle. While it has fallen far behind Apple and Samsung Electronics in the smartphone race, the company’s sensors are used in those rivals’ newer handsets.

“We want to be inside a variety of customers,” Suzuki told Reuters in an interview. “When it comes to semiconductors, if you can’t make use of capacity you quickly end up with a loss. So if you want to avoid that volatility the important thing is to have a good balance with several customers.”