Rachel Gunter, ironically from a site called Market Realist, has written probably the most outlandish and delusional thing I’ve read in some time about Sony. Now when I call out sites, I tend to do it when they’re being unfair to Sony or have little understanding of the company which unfortunately happens far more often than it should. In this case, it’s perhaps clear that Gunter has little understanding of Sony, its competitors, and the market they operate in.
Sony (SNE) could cause Samsung (SSNLF) and Apple (AAPL) nightmares in 2017, a year that many smartphone makers hope could offer a dramatic turnaround in their handset operations.
In just the past few months, I’ve written multiple times about the less than stellar status of LG and HTC when it comes to their mobile divisions, but I’ve never once gotten the sense that any smartphone maker was thinking 2017 was going to be the year for “dramatic turnarounds.” In fact, most evidence points to many vendors looking to considerably scale down their mobile efforts and shift focus to other ventures, like VR. Below is a chart of smartphone vendor shares so you would understand if I’m a little skeptical about how Sony plans to cause nightmares for Samsung and Apple.
Samsung stumbled in 2016 when it was forced to recall millions of Galaxy Note 7 devices, booking a $5 billion loss. Apple also had its fair share of challenges in 2016, posting a string of quarterly revenue declines amid weak iPhone sales. Although both companies are looking for a powerful comeback in 2017, Sony is behaving in a way that could threaten the bottom lines of Samsung and Apple.
Put aside that a lot of the points above are generalities of the two companies and not entirely accurate, but how is Sony positioning this comeback?
How do you deal with a rival product that has been tagged the fastest smartphone on the planet? Sony’s Xperia XZ Premium, unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress, can reach 1GB per second download speeds, which could put it in a class of its own. The device is expected to launch in June this year. Despite still being months out, consumers in the UK can preorder the device directly from Sony through Amazon’s (AMZN) retail site.
Yes, the fact that Xperia XZ Premium offers Gigabit class LTE, something that isn’t accessible to 99% of people, is going to be how they win back consumers. Not marketing. Not retail partners. Not carrier partners. A spec on their phone that most people will likely never know it exists. Oh, and the Galaxy S8 also includes this and will launch prior to Xperia XZ Premium but at least in the UK, you can now pre-order it!
And it gets better.
If Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S8 and Apple’s next iPhone fail to launch with a plan to steal the spotlight from Sony’s Xperia XZ Premium, then the companies could struggle to recapture growth in the smartphone market.
You cannot steal something that doesn’t exist. I cannot express how frustrating it is to read garbage reporting like this that isn’t even from a biased perspective, but one that that includes little to no facts or understanding of the market. The point at which Sony could have became a serious player in mobile ended two years ago. Seeing how that ship has sailed, Sony will never become a threat to Apple or Samsung, no matter what amazing new phone they release. Much in the same way that it’s too late for another mobile OS to enter a market that’s already chosen it’s winners – iOS and Android.
Now don’t take this as Sony should fold their mobile division, because they shouldn’t. In fact, with the right vision and leadership, there is room for Sony to grow their niche premium Android lineup of phones, but that’s a far cry from being a “nightmare” to the two biggest players in the market.
Worth noting that I’ve yet to be able to find a single piece of information on Rachel Gunter. Not on LinkedIn or any other credible site with previous work. As for the site, it’s self described as
The Market Realist approach
Market Realist is a leading provider of institutional-quality investment research and analytics. We are a rapidly growing, early-stage investment information technology company led by seasoned entrepreneurs, which is backed by tier-1 venture investors and has Fortune 100 customers. Our company is posting high double-digit quarterly growth in users and revenue. Our mission is to help investors make knowledgeable investment decisions.
The Market Realist team
Our world-class team comprises talented investment professionals and financial media executives who are passionate about helping people make informed investment decisions. Each Market Realist analyst has several years of professional research experience working at major hedge funds, banks, or financial media and technology companies like Goldman Sachs, Seeking Alpha, CBS, MarketWatch, Yahoo! Finance, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, UBS, and JP Morgan.
and I can’t help but think they mainly serve a purpose to drum up news about a particular investment they or their clients have a hand in.