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Sony To Return Image Sensors To Full Capacity On Smartphone Pickup (reuters.com)
Sony's image sensor production will return to full capacity in the October-March half-year due to a pickup in smartphone demand, having spent part of the past year running just under full strength, the head of its chip-making subsidiary said. From a Reuters report: "The business environment for our customers is improving," President Yasuhiro Ueda of Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp said at a news conference on Friday, at Sony's sensor factory in the Kumamoto region of southern Japan. Sony commands about 40 percent of the market for complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors, a type of chip that converts light into electronic signals. The sensors were central to Sony's recovery from years of losses stemming mainly from price competition in consumer electronics. A slowdown in the global smartphone market prompted Sony to cut sensor production in the October-March half of the last business year, but demand has since picked up. Ueda said combined monthly production would rise in the second half of this business year from 70,000 wafers at present to 73,000 wafers -- full capacity at Sony's five image sensor plants. The figure excludes outsourced production.
The title on this Slashdot article is pretty misleading. It sounds like Sony was actually making the image sensors worse for some reason until you pick up your smartphone.
Next up on Slashdot, Apple continues to make iPhones with less features and Microsoft keeps breaking Windows 10 with poorly tested updates.
One can only hope that Sony also figures out that the disconnect between sensor sales and their own smartphone division demands a complete revamping of the entire smartphone line. It's time Sony. You can do better than this.