Sony is not the only manufacturer that is thinking about exiting smartphone market. Another struggling company, BlackBerry, is also considering exiting the smartphone business if it doesn't become profitable. To do that, it needs to sell 5 million devices each year.

Since most their customers are businesses and government institutions, which rarely change their smartphones, the company will have a hard time selling 5 million devices each year. If BlackBerry Priv, the company's first Android smartphone, doesn't sell well, BlackBerry will approach a radical change and exit smartphone business.