In the battle of the smartphones, two contenders are making plans to bow out of the fight.

Both Sony's chief executive and BlackBerry's boss have separately admitted this week that 2016 could be a make or break year for their respective phone businesses.

Sony said it would 'consider its options' if the firm's mobile division failed to make a profit, while BlackBerry claimed it would 'never say never' to closing down its hardware teams.

Both Sony's chief executive and BlackBerry's boss have separately admitted that 2016 could be a make or break year for their respective phone divisions. BlackBerry's John Chen (pictured) said he would 'never say never' to closing down hardware teams. This would leave the firm free to concentrate on enterprise software

Sony Corp's chief executive Kazuo Hirai made his comments to a group of reporters.

After years of losses, he engineered a successful restructuring that saw the firm cut costs, close its PC arm and boost sales of image sensors and games.

But its smartphone business has been slow to turn around.

'We will continue with the business as long as we are on track with the scenario of breaking even next year onwards,' Mr Hirai said.

SONY UNVEILS NEW XPERIA RANGE Sony has unveiled three new handsets - including what it claims is the first 4K smartphone - at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) consumer technology fair in Berlin. The key development in all the handsets, named the Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact and 4K Xperia Z5 Premium, is the camera. Each of the Android 5.1 Lollipop handsets boast a staggering 23MP sensor with super-fast focus technology, and they each support an interchangeable lens system. Advertisement

'Otherwise, we haven't eliminated the consideration of alternative options.'

Sony phones, including its Xperia-branded range took only 17.5 per cent of the market in Japan and less than 1 per cent in North America, according to company data last year.

The electronics giant in July lowered its forecast for its mobile communications unit to an operating loss of 60 billion yen in the current fiscal year from an earlier estimate of a 39 billion yen loss.

'I do have a feeling that a turnaround in our electronics business has shown progress,' Mr Hirai continued.

'The result of three years of restructuring are starting to show but we still need to carry out restructuring in smartphones.'

Next year's profits will rely heavily on the success of the Xperia Z5 range unveiled at last month's IFA conference in Berlin.

The key development in all the handsets, named the Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact and 4K Xperia Z5 Premium, is the camera.

Sony Corp's chief executive Kazuo Hirai (pictured) made his comments to a group of reporters. 'We will continue with the business as long as we are on track with the scenario of breaking even next year onwards,' he said. 'Otherwise, we haven't eliminated the consideration of alternative options'

Next year's profits will rely on the success of the Xperia Z5 range unveiled at last month's IFA conference in Berlin. The key development in all the handsets, named the Xperia Z5 (pictured), Z5 Compact and 4K Xperia Z5 Premium, is the camera

Each of the Android 5.1 Lollipop handsets boast a 23MP sensor with super-fast focus technology, and they each support an interchangeable lens system.

Elsewhere, BlackBerry's chief executive John Chen said during a panel interview at the Code/Mobile conference that the company may close its hardware business if it isn't profitable next year.