Sony

Sony is the Japanese electronics and entertainment company whose name still pulls in both TVs and game consoles, plus cameras, audio gear, and music and film businesses. By our assessment, its best work is in consumer electronics with a strong finish: PlayStation hardware, television sets, headphones, cameras, and other devices that are usually built with a serious eye for design and polish. The downside is that Sony is spread across many categories, so the experience can feel uneven from one product line to another. In practice it is a brand people meet in different rooms of life, from the living room screen to a console on the shelf to a pair of headphones in a bag. It sits near the top of global electronics, and PlayStation in particular has made the name unusually strong in gaming. People who want a company with deep consumer-electronics reach will find a lot here; people who want a single simple product story may not. The company is based in Japan.