Report: Sony might exit its smartphone business if 2016 doesn’t produce a profit

According to a new report, Sony Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai is giving the company’s Xperia smartphone line one more year to prove itself. If the division doesn’t break even, or post a profit in 2016, the executive has hinted that there are “alternative options” for Sony including exiting the business altogether. The red ink that Sony’s mobile division is expected to spill this year has risen from $310 million back in April, to a more current forecast of $480 million.

Part of the problem is that Sony has been unable to gain any traction in the U.S. where it owns just a 1% market share. In …

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