The Sony Xperia Z may be struggling to compete with the Galaxy S4 in many markets, but in Japan, it’s a big seller, and its popularity has helped Sony’s smartphone sales grow. The Japanese company today revealed its fiscal Q1 2013 earnings, which include 9.6 million smartphone shipments — up from 7.4 million in Q1 2012.

Those shipments provided Sony’s mobile products and communications division with $3.9 billion in revenue, which is a 36.2% increase year-on-year. They also helped Sony rake in $60 million in net income, improving upon the substantial loss it endured this time last year.

As for Sony as a whole, revenue reached $17.3 billion for the quarter, up 13% year-on-year. Net profit was $35 million. Sony’s gaming division suffered somewhat this quarter, with just 1.1 million PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 consoles sold, and only 600,000 PSPs and PS Vitas.

But of course, Sony will launch the PlayStation 4 later this year. That’s likely to have caused sales in its older consoles to slow down a bit as consumers await the new model, but gaming sales are sure to skyrocket when that goes on sale.

• SourceSony
• ViaPocket-lint