Ailing phone maker BlackBerry announces plans to stop, well, making phones-- instead such a task will be farmed out to hardware partners, as the company wants to focus on software and security products.

As a result, future BlackBerry handsets will be like the recent DTEK 50, a BlackBerry-branded clone of the Alcatel Idol 4. It also makes the Priv, the first Android-powered BlackBerry launched back in November 2015, the last smartphone produced by the company.

"The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners," CEO John Chen says. "This allows us to reduce capital requirements and enhance return on invested capital.”

Apple reveals exactly what everyone was expecting in this year's September event with the latest incarnation of the iPhone-- the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, now featuring IP67-rated stainless steel construction together with a slew of internal upgrades.

But before we get to the new iPhone, one has to mention the opening of the event in question. In a move simultaneously unbelievable and inevitable Nintendo took the stage to announce its first iPhone game, Super Mario Run. Demonstrated by company guru Shigeru Miyamoto, the game will surely be a first of surely many Nintendo titles hitting iOS, as the ailing Japanese company looks to boost its bottom line by developing games for machines other than its own.

Anyway, back to the iPhone. Available in now traditional 7 and 7 Plus forms, the smartphones comes in a gloss jet black finish as well as the familiar silver and rose gold, and has a rebuilt Home button featuring a Taptic engine similar to that found in the touchpad found in the latest MacBooks. Powering it is new processor, the A10 Fusion, featuring a 4-core CPU and 6-core GPU for a 40% speed boost over the A9.

Following slightly terrifying reports of Galaxy Note 7 tablets catching fire or exploding while charging Samsung suspends sales of the phablet and announces a global replacement program.

The burning-- and at times explosive-- issue comes from the battery, and so far 35 such cases have been reported. According to Samsung this is but a "tiny fraction of the high volume of device sold since launch," but concerned customers will be able to replace their handsets with a new smartphone through an exchange program.

Samsung is still to fully detail the program in question, but it will be held through carriers and retail outlets. Carriers in the US will also be adding a choice of credit or gift card should customers stick with a Samsung device as a "gesture of appreciation."

Samsung unveils the latest iteration of the Note phablet-- the Galaxy Note 7, a device feauring enterprise-style additions such as a stylus and an Knox security complete with iris scanner.

The Note 7 has a curved 5.7-inch 2560 x 1440 resolution Super AMOLED display similar to the one found in the Galaxy S7 Edge, and carries an identical octa-core Exynos processor paired with an Adreno 530 GPU and 4GB RAM. The body is IP68 water resistant, while the display is in Gorilla Glass 5 for extra protection.

Internal storage totals at 64GB, and is expandable to 256GB via microSD. In a Samsung first, the Galaxy Note 7 features a USB-C port for faster battery charging, especially when paired with the Power Management UX.

LG announces the upcoming V20, the flagship successor to 2015's V10, will be the first available running on Android 7.0 (aka Nougat) out of the box once it hits the market sometime on Q3 2016.

Such a revelation is perhaps unusual, since Google usually tends to debut the latest Android iteration with its own Nexus smartphones. Then again, LG is a long-time Google partner, having built the Nexus 4, 5 and 5X, and as such might have traded a few favours for Nougat honours.

That, or Google plans to release the next Nexus generation at around the same time.

ZTE announces the ZMax Pro-- a 6-inch phablet featuring a fingerprint sensor, something the company says is unique for a device with a more affordable price tag.

The ZMax Pro carries a 1920x1080 resolution display together with an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor, 13MP rear-facing camera, 2GB RAM and 3GB storage inside a plastic body. The large size allows for a hefty 3400mAh battery, and dual-SIM slots are included.

Qualcomm announces an update on the flagship Snapdragon 820 mobile processor-- the cleverly named Snapdragon 821, a chip around 10% faster than its predecessor.

Described as "designed to complement and extend the competitive strengths" of current Qualcomm technology, the quad-core 821 is, essentially, an in-between option for high-end devices launched the company presents an actual next-gen processor. As such, it offers clock speeds of 2.4GHz (up from the 2.1GHz of the 820) while promising battery life and app performance.

Japanese smartphone maker NuAns announces the Neo, a unique-looking Windows 10 smartphone, will be available in European markets following a Kickstarter campaign.

Already available in its home Japan, Neo features a somewhat unusual chunky design, with an 11.3mm-thick frame users can customise with up to 64 different snap-on covers in materials such as wood, suede and even ostrich leather. Covers are split in half, meaning users can also mix-and-match colours and materials for an even more custom look.