Sony Corporation stands firm on its position and refuses to get caught up in price competition on tablet PCs, it said on Sept. 4. Sony is preparing to launch a new tablet this month to pursue Android rival Samsung Electronics, amid a slew of cheap tablets from other makers.

"We aren't considering competing on price in tablets," Sony executive vice president Kunimasa Suzuki said at a press briefing in Tokyo, as cited by Reuters.

Sony launched its first models in April 2011, and Suzuki said at the time that his company was aiming to overtake Samsung within a year to become the leading Android tablet maker. The tablets failed to spark much interest, however, and Sony has not made it yet into the top five. "It was important to set ourselves the target of becoming number one," added Suzuki.

Sony's latest tablet latest tablet has been branded Xperia, just like Sony's smartphone, in an effort to unify its mobile devices under a single name. The new tablet, however, is making its debut in a much more crowded market than its predecessors. It will start selling in the U.S. on Sept. 7. The 16GB model will sell for $399, the same price as Samsung's corresponding model with the same screen resolution. Meanwhile, Apple's 16GB iPad 2 retails for the same price as well, and its latest high-resolution model starts at $100 more.

The Japanese consumer electronics company faces declining income from televisions, and is now poised to turn mobile devices into profit. Sony also aims to boost sales of gaming consoles and digital cameras, while trying out new ventures such as medical devices. The company posted a record net loss of 455 billion yen ($5.8 billion) in the twelve months to March 31, and is now looking to recoup some of that loss.

Microsoft has unveiled plans to join the tablet market in June when it announced its own-brand Surface tablet, but has yet to offer pricing details. Meanwhile, the Sony Xperia will compete against a plethora of cheap tablets, including Google's wildly popular Nexus 7, Amazon's Kindle Fire, and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet, all in the $200 price range.