The news comes in the week that Canon reported a 24% fall in global camera sales, on a unit basis.

Demand for Sony cameras, including interchangeable-lens models, dropped from 2.2m units to 1.6m, financial figures released yesterday show.

The fall in demand – which Sony attributed to a contraction of the market – hit sales revenue, which saw a 3% decline on a constant currency basis, to 186 billion yen.

However, cost cuts combined with an improvement in product mix – reflecting a shift to high value-added models – helped boost operating income.

Operating income at Sony’s imaging division, which includes broadcast products, rose by 5.8 billion yen, to 25.9 billion yen (around £140m).

Volume sales of Sony smartphones also fell over the three months, on a year-on-year basis, from 9.9m in 2014 to 6.7m for June-September 2015.