▲ Xperia Pro
Before the release of Xperia 1 last year, Sony mobile phones had been in an awkward position. When everyone is pursuing a full screen, Sony is still a big chin.
▲ Xperia XZs image from: CNET
When all mobile phones use Sony CMOS, Sony itself is using CMOS that will be eliminated soon. When everyone is moving towards facial recognition or studying off-screen fingerprints, Sony is still studying back fingerprints, and its position is still very anti-human.
▲ Sony Xperia XZ2 quality picture from: Android Central
The old "Suofen" shouted: "Sony's industrial design smells good" and turned their heads and threw themselves into the arms of Apple's Samsung Huawei. Sony's mobile division's financial report is getting ugly. In the third quarter of 20 18, Sony's total revenue reached 241800 million yen, and its net profit was 429 billion yen, up 45% year-on-year. Unlike Sony's financial report, the mobile phone business unit continued to lose money. In the past four quarters, the mobile phone business department lost 65,438+0,065,438+0 billion yen, with an average quarterly loss of about 25.25 billion yen. The shipment of Sony mobile phones has also dropped again and again.
▲ Sony 20 18 Q3 Financial Report
As a veteran electronics giant, Sony has a glorious history. Walkman, Telilon, CD, Blu-ray and laptop all witnessed Sony's strong technical strength. 2 1 century today, Sony is still one of the technical leaders in TV, camera, semiconductor, game machine and professional film and television equipment.
▲ Sony classic product Walkman
Why Sony is all black technology, but the mobile phones it makes are always "partial students", which has a lot to do with the internal struggle of Sony. Take a photo with Sony's mobile phone. When Sony provided Huawei with IMX 600 custom CMOS with superior hardware quality, Sony's mobile phone department could only use IMX400 CMOS six months ago.
IMX 400 of Xperia XZS
When most manufacturers have entered the era of dual cameras and Sony CMOS has made a lot of money, Sony Xperia XZ3 is still using the design of single camera. In terms of hardware performance, Sony did not give the biggest support to the mobile phone, let alone let the imaging department help the mobile phone department adjust the camera algorithm.
Finally, there is a "wonder": Sony, which is mainly based on CMOS technology, uses old CMOS, and its algorithm tuning is not as good as the flagship of international manufacturers. The camera UI photo experience is also very bad, even worse than the domestic thousand yuan machine. Also with superior sensor technology, Sony is in sharp contrast with Samsung next door.
Similar problems also occur in the system. Native system+chaotic UI design+slow system update make the system difficult to use and become a big slot of Sony mobile phone.
Adam Marsh, Sony's senior global marketing manager, said in an interview.
This shows how serious the problem of "mountain culture" within Sony is.
In 20 12, the share price of Sony listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange plummeted to 1300 yen, which was nearly two-thirds lower than the share price of more than 4,000 yen in 2005. At that time, Sony President howard stringer stepped down in a panic, and the task of saving Sony was entrusted to Kazuo Hirai.
▲ 20 12 Sony shares fell below 1000 yen for the first time in 32 years.
Dear "Uncle", Kazuo Hirai, who is newly appointed, has put forward the reform plan of "One Sony", determined Sony's direction as the game, video and mobile markets, and sold other production lines such as CDs representing the old production capacity. Although "Uncle" has determined the direction of reform, internal resistance has always existed.
▲ Let us guard the smile of "Uncle"
In 20 15, Sony released Walkman ZX2, a mobile HiFi device that inherited Walkman. The design of this device is good. Based on the strong technical strength of Sony's audio department, the audio playback ability is impeccable. But at the system level, the old Android 4.2 and the dragging UI give people the illusion of "traveling through time and space". You know, Android 4.2 was released on 20 12, and most mobile phones on 20 15 have been upgraded to Android 5.0 system.
▲ Walkman ZX2
2065438+In March 2009, Sony announced that it would reorganize its video products and solutions business (IP&S), home entertainment and audio business (He&S) and mobile communication business (MC) into electronic products and solutions business (EP&S).
In April of the same year, Sony Vision Products Company and Sony Audio-visual Products Company will merge to form Sony Home Entertainment and Audio Products Company.
At this point, One Sony finally realized the initial architecture. Sony has re-integrated the image team, TV audio team and mobile phone team, hoping to combine the advantages of the three parties to make impartial products.
▲ Kazuo Hirai and a Sony picture from: The Verge
We also saw the effect of One Sony. 20 19 June, Sony released its flagship mobile phone Xperia 1 at MWC. The name 1 may symbolize the practice of the One Sony concept. Unlike previous Sony phones, Xperia 1 has many auras.
"The world's first 4K HDR OLED screen, eye control focusing function, X 1 mobile graphics processing engine, and CineAlta video recording function, etc." These functions are the unique skills of Sony's imaging department and TV entertainment department.
Get the function, but the optimization is still similar. Mark DXO only gave 94 points after evaluating Xperia 1, which is lower than that of iphone X. DXO bluntly said:
This also reflects from the side that Sony has not completed internal integration.
The recently released Xperia 1 II "pronounced as Xperia 1 Mark II" is an enhanced version of the previous generation Xperia 1. We can still see 4K HDR organic light emitting diode, eye control focusing function, X 1 mobile graphics processing engine, CineAlta video recording and other functions. We can also see the long-lost 3.5mm headphone jack, Sony Hi-Res gold standard, and Zeiss coated new lens, which supports 5G Snapdragon 865. Compared with Xperia 1, Xperia 1 II is like a finished product of Sony concept.
▲ Xperia 1 II
A Sony may have another meaning. Sony wants to turn the fast iteration mobile phone into an upgrade package for Sony professional tools. Xperia Pro is such a product.
▲ Xperia Pro
On the basis of Xperia 1 II, a mini HDMI interface is added, which can directly connect professional cameras or camcorders, and also supports 5G mmWave.
HDMI interface of Xperia Pro.
In the simple demonstration of Sony conference, we saw that Xperia Pro became an accessory of Sony camera or video recorder display, and used its 4K HDR organic light-emitting diode screen to make up for the defects of camera display. More importantly, it can take advantage of the fast upload speed of 5G millimeter wave to realize professional functions such as live TV broadcast.
▲ Realize the 5G live connection of video recorder with Xperia Pro.
The existence of Xperia Pro extends the concept of One Sony to the field of professional equipment, and makes full use of the technical advantages of Sony's three major departments: imaging, entertainment and mobile terminals to create a set of leading and contemporary 5G solutions.
On June+10 last year, Kazuo Hirai, who was about to retire, told the outside world: "If Sony gives up the mobile business now, it is equivalent to giving up the future, and Sony will lose the opportunity to participate in the next revolution. 」
▲ Kazuo Hirai handed over the work to his successor Kenichiro Yoshida.
Now it seems that "Uncle" made the right choice. In the next decade, Sony will truly enter the era of "One Sony", and the mobile business will be the fire reserved by "Uncle" for Sony to participate in the next revolution, pointing out the direction for Sony in the 5G era.
In the 5G era, we may see a different Sony.