Amid reports that Nokia is preparing to re-enter the mobile phone market in 2016, the former handset maker says it has no plans to manufacture or sell consumer phones.
Nokia issued a press release on Sunday to deny the claims. The reports are false, stated Nokia.
"Nokia notes recent news reports claiming the company communicated an intention to manufacture consumer handsets out of a R&D facility in China," stated Nokia in the release. "These reports are false, and include comments incorrectly attributed to a Nokia Networks executive."
Roughly five months ago, Nokia unveiled the first tablet to bear its brand. The Nokia N1 was the result of a partnership between Nokia and Foxconn.
Foxconn was commissioned to produce and sell the N1 tablet. Nokia provided the design parameters for the tablet and Foxconn took care of the rest.
Just last week, reports began to emerge stating that Nokia was preparing a similar arrangement to the N1 project. The company would team up with a hardware manufacturer, possibly even Foxconn, and draw up the specs for a smartphone that would be released in 2016, according to the reports.
Around the time the N1 was released, Ramzi Haidamus, Nokia's technology chief, indicated that the Finnish firm has a lot more hardware it intends to release beyond its first tablet.
"It's the first of many coming: more SKUs, more sizes, more features," stated Haidamus back in November 2014. "We will go beyond tablets for sure."
The launch of the Nokia N1 came roughly a month after Microsoft tweaked the Lumia line and forsook its right to use the Nokia brand. Use of Nokia's brand was one of the terms of Microsoft's $7.2 billion acquisition of the Finnish company earlier in the year.
The acquisition stripped Nokia of everything except its mapping software and Nokia Technologies division, which developed the designs for the N1.
Nokia's mapping service, Here, has enjoyed moderate success in China, and recent reports indicate that the company is pitching the software to some of the top players in the technology industry.
"Together with Baidu, a new customer for us, we want to help the growing number of Chinese tourists get the most from their travels," Bruno Bourguet, Here's senior vice president and head of sales, said at the time.
Already powering China's Baidu, the world's second largest search engine, Here is being pitched to Amazon, Alibaba, Facebook and others, reports claim.
