Video: Sony boosted by PlayStation 4 as 2Q loss narrows Sony on Friday announced a whopping $1.0 billion (£624 million) six-month loss, underlining the Japanese electronics giant's struggle to drag itself out of the red, while it falls further behind rivals Panasonic and Sharp. As the trio published their half-year earnings, Sony said the challenges of a fiercely competitive smartphone business had weighed on its bottom line. The company is also currently in the midst of a broader restructuring as it tries to move past years of massive losses. While Japan's electronics giants have benefited from a sharply weaker yen, analysts have warned that the impact is fading, saying the industry giants have more work to do on reinventing themselves.