Sony's gaming division and the sales of PS4 (hardware/games) have helped the company maintain its third-quarter earnings, despite the slowdown in the premium smartphone market and thus, in Sony's image sensor business. Sony posted third-quarter earnings up on those from a year ago, making ¥202.1 billion ($1.69 billion) in operating profit off ¥2.58 trillion ($21.5 billion) in revenue. Net profit between October and December was ¥120.1 billion ($1 billion), 33 percent higher than the same quarter last year.

Sony's gaming division enjoyed a 10.5 percent year-on-year increase revenue brought on by strong PlayStation hardware and software sales totalling ¥587.1 billion ($4.89 billion). Sony recently announced that it's sold over 35 million PlayStation 4 consoles. Operating income for the gaming unit was 45.5 percent higher.

Sony Pictures turned in a good quarter, too, with movies like Spectre and Hotel Transylvania 2 performing well at the box office to help the division make ¥262.1 billion ($2.18 billion) in revenue - 26.9 percent up on last year.

While Sony's mobile phone sales were down 14.7 percent, the division posted a much higher operating profit of ¥24.1 billion ($201 million) due to a product mix and reductions in areas like R&D and marketing.

Sony's Devices division, which covers components including image sensors, was hurt by lower smartphone sales and lower demand for Sony's sensors. The division was also hit by decreased battery sales. Revenue was down 12.6 percent at ¥249.9 billion ($2.08 billion), with an overall operating loss of ¥11.7 billion ($97 million) largely caused by an impairment charge on certain assets.

"Demand for image sensors from certain customers has slowed since November due to a slowdown in the high-end smartphone market," Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida told reporters at a briefing, without naming the clients. Yoshida said Sony was planning its budget for the next year assuming a fall in global demand for high-end smartphones.

The company maintained its outlook for full-year operating profit to grow to 320 billion yen from 68.5 billion in the previous year.