Sony Group Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao said the company has no intention of abandoning its Xperia handset line, calling smartphones “a very important business for us” during a financial results briefing in Tokyo on 7-8 August. The pledge follows weeks of speculation that Sony might exit the smartphone market after weak sales and quality problems with the Xperia 1 VII flagship, which was temporarily pulled from shelves in Japan and subjected to a replacement programme because of shutdown and reboot faults. Only one new Xperia model has been released this year and the brand has slipped out of Japan’s top five vendors, but Lin said Sony will continue to invest in communication technology that underpins both its phones and other product lines.