(Telecompaper) Sony reported a continued improvement in smartphone sales in the September quarter. It shipped 10.0 million phones in its fiscal second quarter, up from 9.6 million in Q1 and 8.8 million a year earlier, and also reported rising average selling prices. This helped revenues at its mobile products division increase 39.3 percent year-on-year to JPY 418.6 billion (USD 4.271 billion), and the operating loss narrow to JPY 0.9 billion from JPY 23.1 billion. Excluding currency effects, sales were up 4 percent year-on-year. While the company was doing well in phones, slower sales of computers, which are also included in mobile products, led to a downgrade in its forecast for the division. It still expects the division to post an operating profit and higher sales for the year, but these will be less than expected in August. For the full year to March 2014, Sony maintained its forecast for 42.0 million smartphones sold and cut the PC outlook to 5.8 million units from 6.2 million. A poor performance at its motion pictures division led to a drop in Sony's group results for the quarter and a downgrade in its full-year outlook. Revenues for the three months to September were up 10.6 percent to JPY 1.775 trillion, but the operating profit halved to JPY 14.8 billion, and the net loss widened to JPY 19.3 billion from JPY 15.5 billion a year ago. Sony cut its full-year outlook to sales of JPY 7.7 trillion, from an outlook in August of JPY 7.9 trillion. Net profit is now expected to fall compared to last year, to JPY 30.0 billion.