Confirming previous rumors, Sony today announced that it has purchased Toshiba’s sensor business for 19 billion yen ($155 million). The sensor division of Toshiba has been acquired not by the smartphone division of Sony, but by Sony Semiconductor Corporation — the sensor division of the Japanese company that was recently spun-off into a subsidiary. Toshiba camera sensors have been used in some popular smartphones over the years, including the Nokia 808 and the HTC One M9 recently. However, the company’s offering does not really stand against smartphone sensors designed by Sony, which are used by almost every major OEM in the smartphone market including Apple, Samsung and Google. Nonetheless, it is likely that Toshiba’s sensor division will help Sony in further advancing its expertise in DLSR and mirrorless camera sensors. It will also allow Sony to increase the production capacity of its sensors since Toshiba will also be handing over its CMOS fabrication facilities to them. The takeover is expected to be completed by 31st March, 2016 and will see 1,100 employees from Toshiba being transferred over to Sony.
