Sony today gave warning it could be forced to revise full-year earnings forecasts after the recall of about 8 million computer batteries manufactured by the Japanese electronics group and delays to its next generation PlayStation 3 (PS3) games console.

The company added that it would recall 90,000 batteries used in its own Vaio laptop computers sold in Japan and China. The news comes day after Toshiba, one of a string of PC makers forced to recall Sony-made batteries on fears they could overheat or explode, said it was considering suing the group for lost business and damage to its brand.

Toshiba has recalled 830,000 batteries after impurities entered Sony's manufacturing process, making it possible for short circuits to occur.

Sony's problem's have been compounded by spiralling costs linked to PS3 delays. It has already slashed the machine's price by a fifth in Japan, ahead of its planned launch there next month, amid fears it will struggle to compete with cheaper rivals from Microsoft and Nintendo.

The console's launch in Europe has been pushed back to March, after Sony met trouble in manufacturing the Blu-ray DVD components which will be included in the machine.

Sony said in a statement this morning: "We are in the process of determining whether a revision to our annual earnings outlook is necessary, taking into account various factors that could affect our group earnings."

The latest embarrassment will place more pressure on Sir Howard Stringer, the Welshman who is the first foreigner to lead the iconic Japanese group. In April, Sony posted a 68 per cent rise in full-year operating profits to ¥191.2 billion (£862m) but hopes that the Japanese electronics-to-media group could finally be staging a concerted recovery were overshadowed by concerns over PS3 costs.

In July, Sony said it expected group operating profits of around ¥130 billion for the 12 months to March, down 43 per cent on the previous year.

Two months later it added that recalls of batteries used in Dell and Apple machines – the earliest company's to recall the components – would cost up to ¥30 billion, equivalent to about a quarter of Sony’s net profit for the full year to March.

Since then the list of manufacturers hit by the problem has expanded to include Lenovo, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Sharp and analysts have put the cost to Sony at as much as ¥40 billion.

In April, Sony also said it expected its games division to rack up an operating loss of ¥100 billion this financial year amid spiralling PS3 costs.

Sony today added that foreign exchange rates could also affect full-year forecasts.

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