Sony (SNE) is looking to beat out its Chinese rivals and become the third largest vendor in the global smartphone market, Reuters reported. The head of the Sony’s mobile business Kunimasa Suzuki hinted that the company may soon begin producing cheaper smartphone models that target developing nations, noting that it plans to “alter smartphone development for each market.” Sony’s rumored quad-core Xperia smartphone could also help the company increase its share in markets across Europe and the United States.
Samsung (005930) and Apple (AAPL) account for more than a half of all smartphone shipments, making third place a coveted position for vendors in the lucrative smartphone market. The latest numbers from research firm IDC placed Sony in fourth place with a 4.5% share of the market. The company was able to edge out ZTE (000063) by 0.2 percentage points and wasn’t far off Huawei’s (002502) 4.9% market share.
Sony will also have to face off against HTC (2498), however, which hopes to win back consumers with its new HTC One smartphone.
