Sony’s Fiscal Q4 TV Unit Sales Jumped 43% Year Over Year

Sony sold 9.3 million TVs globally in fiscal 2020 ended March 31, matching its year-earlier performance with a stronger than expected fiscal Q4, reported the company Wednesday. The 2 million sets sold in the March quarter, though down 38% sequentially from fiscal Q3, were up 43% year over year. Revenue in the Electronics Products & Solutions segments that include TVs declined 4% for the year mainly due to a decrease in unit sales of digital cameras, offset by an improvement in the TV product mix, said Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki on an earnings webcast. Sony is forecasting fiscal 2021 sales to rebound, rising 9% for the year on recovering digital camera unit sales, he said. “Intermittent disruptions in the supply chain” due to COVID-19 affected the segment throughout the year, said Totoki: “We were able to respond swiftly to these changes.” Sony sold 7.8 million PlayStation 5 consoles in fiscal 2020, slightly beating its 7.6-million-unit target (see 2102030025). The PS5 debuted Nov. 12 in the U.S. and five other regions and launched globally about a week later. PS5 supply “has not been able to keep up with the extremely strong demand,” said Totoki. “Although constraints in the supply of components, especially semiconductors, are expected to continue this fiscal year, our planned target is to exceed the 14.8 million units we sold in the second year after the launch of the PlayStation 4.” Sony will “continue to work to secure components and strive to do our utmost to produce and sell more units above target,” he said.