Although Sony warned it doesn't now expect to make money on smartphones this year, strong PS4 sales have helped the company's profitg for the first quarter. Sony said said April-June operating profit doubled, boosted by its videogames business and a one-off asset sale. However, the company cut its smartphone sales target this fiscal year by 14 percent. Sony now expects to just break even in the business this year, down from a previous operating forecast of 26 billion yen ($253 million), and is reviewing its mid-term strategy.

Sony now expects to sell 43 million smartphones this year, down from 50 million.

For the fiscal year, Sony on Thursday shaved 3 percent off its TV sales target, cutting it to 15.5 million from 16 million previously.

In the fiscal first quarter ended June, Sony's operating profit climbed to 69.8 billion yen ($679 million) from 35.5 billion yen a year earlier.

Across the company as a whole, net profit surged to 26.8 billion yen in the first quarter from a meager 3.13 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 5.8 percent to 1.81 trillion yen.

Separately Sony also said it would set up a joint venture with Panasonic Corp and Japan Display Inc to develop organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, with the government-backed Innovation Network Corp of Japan taking a majority stake.