Sony Ericsson Outsources Production of Basic Handsets

The four new lower cost handsets announced by Sony Ericsson last week are to be manufactured by 3rd party suppliers, reports the Taiwan based DigiTimes newspaper. The company is aiming to sell between 15-18 million of the handsets during this year.

Arima will handle the production of Sony Ericsson's T270, T280 as well as R300 Radio - and all three handsets are due to be released within the next couple of months. Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS) will manufacture the R306 Radio, which is not expected to go on sale until the 3rd quarter of the year an unnamed source told the newspaper.

Sony Ericsson brought about 8.5 million OEM handsets from Taiwanese handset vendors last year and is aiming to launch 5 or 6 entry level handsets during the rest of this year, with roughly half going to OEM manufacturers.

Both Arima and CMCS are Tawain based companies.

On the web: DigiTimes

Posted to the site on 28th January 2008