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"Nokia notes recent news reports claiming the
company communicated an intention to manufacture consumer
handsets out of a R&D facility in China. These reports are
false," Nokia said in a statement posted on its website.
"Nokia reiterates it currently has no plans to manufacture or
sell consumer handsets."
However, Nokia has said it is looking into returning to the
smartphones business by brand-licensing.
Nokia sold its phone business to Microsoft last year, but just
months after that it launched a new brand-licensed tablet
computer, produced under license by Taiwan's Foxconn, with an
intention to follow up with more devices.
Nokia has agreed with Microsoft that it will not enter the
mobile phone business before 2016.
"It would be crazy not to look at that opportunity. Of course we
will look at it," Sebastian Nystrom, the head of products at
Nokia's Technologies unit, told Reuters in November.
Nokia this month announced a takeover of France's
Alcatel-Lucent, a bid to boost its mainstay network equipment
business, and also said it could hive off its map business,
which has reportedly drawn interest from carmakers as well as
Facebook and online taxi service Uber.
(Reporting By Jussi Rosendahl, editing by William Hardy)
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