Sony to Continue to Release a New Flagship Smartphone Every 6 Months; Is It Wise?

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If we set aside the alphabet soup that Sony has created with their product line, you’ll notice that the company has been hellbent on releasing new smartphones whenever it can. More specifically, the company has been on an aggressive strategy of releasing a new flagship smartphone every 6 months. This strategy has seen Sony release the Xperia Z, Xperia Z1, and now the Xperia Z2 in under two years’ time. While their most recent products have some of the most cutting edge technology that you could expect in a smartphone like 4K video recording, Sony has no plans to change their pace in the near future as revealed by Sony Mobile’s Creative Director Kurozumi Yoshiro.

According to Yoshiro:

 In order to maintain a flagship, you must update at this frequency. 

Yoshiro believes that in order for them to catch up their competitors (i.e. Apple and Samsung), Sony cannot adopt a yearly update cycle. To put things in context, Sony sold 9.6 million smartphones in the Q3 2013 where Apple sold 9 million iPhone 5S units in the first weekend alone while the phone was available in only a limited quantity.

While it’s good that Sony is staying aggressive with their smartphone ambitions, it comes a bit misguided and naive to assume its competitors are enjoying their success, due to having the latest wizbang feature. Apple famously has decided against cramming the last tech in their phones which has seen the iPhone 5S continue to offer a 8-megapixel image sensor versus the 20-meagpixel that Sony and others provide, and instead has opted to improve its image quality which continues to beat out rivals via improvements in optics and software. Additionally, Sony’s competitors have enjoyed success through meaningful and proper marketing, something that Sony lacks across all of its product lines.

While being aggressive with a product release cycle sounds good in theory, the attention garnered from it is likely not long lived versus a sustainable marketing campaign. Equally such an aggressive strategy can put off loyal customers who may never be sure if a new product is around the corner and are stuck in a limbo of when to purchase a device.

Discuss:

Should Sony continue to release a new flagship smartphone every 6 months or are they better off adopting the more typical one year strategy?

[Via Watch Impress]