A rise in smartphone shipments and favourable foreign exchange rates have seen revenues rise in Sony's Mobile Products & Communication division in Q2 2013, helping the firm cut its quarterly losses.

Sony claims its mobile division – which also includes its PC and laptop business – saw a sales jump of 39.3 percent year-on-year, coming in at ¥418.6 billion for the quarter, equal to around $4.3 billion.

Losses down

As a result, the company has seen the division's quarterly operating losses fall from ¥23.1 billion during the same period in 2012 to ¥900 million this quarter – around $9 million.

Sony describes the situation as a "significant improvement", citing both an improvement in mobile shipment rates (though numbers are not given) and an increasing in their average selling price helping to boost operations.

Sony's flagship Xperia Z1

Indeed, the division's woes are firmly being placed on a fall in PC sales, though equally of note should be the inability of the firm's Xperia range to dent Samsung's all-conquering Galaxy range in the Android market.

Elsewhere, Sony's games business – which wraps up the firm's flagging handheld, PS Vita – made a loss of around $8 million across the quarter, with Sony highlighting a natural decline in PS2, PS3 and PSP unit sales.

[source: Sony]