Sony Ericsson Q3 results are out, smartphones drive sales up

The strong performance of Sony Ericsson's smartphones has led them to a third consecutive quarter of profits. Income was up from the previous quarter and restructuring charges were significantly lower too.

Here are the numbers: Sony Ericsson shipped 10.4 million units (down from 11 million the previous quarter) and the sales totaled 1,603 million euro (1,757 million euro for Q2). Despite that, the gross margin went up 2% quarter-on-quarter and almost doubled compared to last year's third quarter.

Smartphones, especially the XPERIA lineup, has been the primary focus for Sony Ericsson and it's paying off - smartphones now account for over 50% of total sales. Average selling price fell a little since the last quarter and is now at 154 euro (down from 160 euro).

The end result of all these numbers is a net income of 49 million euro - a huge improvement over the 12 million for the previous quarter. And last year's third quarter marked a loss of 164 million euro, so Sony Ericsson is clearly on an upwards trajectory.

Sony Ericsson estimates that they have a 4% market share (in number of units) - basically they've been keeping the same level since the beginning of 2010.

If you want more details and numbers, you can read the press release.