Is Sanyo selling off its mobile phone division?

According to recent rumblings, Sanyo Electric is seriously considering cutting its mobile phone operations loose, and is apparently in talks with a number of competing manufacturers about purchasing the ailing line. At the top of the "interested parties" list are Sharp and Kyocera, well known phone-makers hoping to pick up the company's under-performing slack (which currently constitutes about 15 percent of Sanyo's overall sales). The news comes as little surprise, given the current restructuring scramble Sanyo is attempting after a whopping 72 percent drop in operating profit in recent months. Phone sales for Sanyo are now expected to fall 1.5-1.6 million short, according to the company, which has posted a net loss for the past three years and is rumored to be selling off its semiconductor operations. At this rate, there may be dark days ahead for the Japanese giant.

[Totalfixation @ Aug 13th 2007 10:38AM]

I say smart move, stick to batteries or something. Never though their phone division was that great.

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 13th 2007 10:40AM]

I heard good things about build quality, but never owned one mostly because of styling.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Aug 13th 2007 10:54PM]

Styling stinks, but compared to other phones on the same Sprint Network in the same locations my MM8300 gets fantastic reception in very poor/rural locations So I really haven't got too much to complain about in the area of functionality. Oh, and as a bonus my phone was cheaper than most of the others.

[wyatt @ Aug 13th 2007 10:57AM]

I absolutely love Sanyo phones. I'd own one again in a heartbeat if they made phones for Verizon. I had an 8300 when I was with Sprint, and it was by far the best phone I've ever used. It was superb in every way. If the majority of my family and friends didn't use Verizon, I'd probably still have that phone.

[Azzwiped @ Aug 13th 2007 11:11AM]

noooo! Sanyo makes the best Sprint phones, hands down. Sound as good as a land line, always get a strong signal, etc. I think they use some kind of magical radio. The MM-9000 was the best phone I have ever used.

[Jacob @ Aug 13th 2007 12:05PM]

Sanyo phones are awesome, at least they used to be... I LOVED my SCP-6000 back in the day. I'd own another Sanyo if they built GSM phones.

[Jamar @ Aug 13th 2007 1:39PM]

Sanyo did make a couple of GSM phones- one for Vodafone Japan/Softbank (V801SA-I have it, and it's great, but an annoying bug keeps resetting the language to Japanese every time I turn it off), one for Smartone-Vodafone in Hong Kong (don't know what it was called) and one for Orange in Europe (S750i).

They're pretty good, it just takes a bit of effort to find one. But if you miss the Sanyo quality and you're on AT&T/T-Mobile, go for one of the above.

[portorikan @ Aug 13th 2007 12:11PM]

I agree. Sanyo makes the BEST phones for Sprint. Strong signal and bettery life. Great UI for a cell phone. Well thought out and makes sense. Voice SMS works great on their phones.

I used Sanyo exclusively on Sprint. If you have Sprint, you can't do better.

[Jamar @ Aug 13th 2007 1:43PM]

I'd love for Sharp to buy up Sanyo's business. Though I have a feeling that this wouldn't be happening if Sanyo sold phones here like they do in Japan, that is- cool-looking and feature-packed (slider too).

[Magallanes @ Aug 13th 2007 1:44PM]

Here it's hard if not impossible to find a Sanyo Cellphone, i guess that Sanyo lacks on distribution.

[Mike @ Aug 13th 2007 3:39PM]

I agree I got a Sanyo phone right now, and let me tell u its been through hell and back. I've dropped it soo many times on concreate etc I'm suprized its even working.

I also get good reception with it as well. Toughest phone I've ever owned

[paulm @ Aug 13th 2007 11:50PM]

Sanyo's customer service is horrible. These guys straight out robbed me of money in a very slimy repair scam. won't ever do business with them again and i hope the company does go under. they done me wrong, caveat emptor.

[TimB @ Oct 11th 2007 2:00PM]

I echo the posters who are pro-Sanyo. My last two phone (Sprint) have been Sanyo's and have been excellent.