Sony Mobile Communications, the company formed from the 2011 breakup of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, wants to be the world's third-largest handset maker by value of sales, according to the company's head of sales and marketing.

Dennis van Schie wouldn't specify when the Tokyo-based company expects to hit the ambitious goal, but he said it was "not in 10 years' time, but a lot sooner."

When...