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"Sharp has confirmed that it is laying off 70 employees from its mobile business in China, but the company maintains it will not exit the country's phone market, according to local media reports.\r\n\r\nA Sharp PR representative told Chinese new site\u00A0National Business Daily that the firm is adjusting its business in China with the restructuring, which will see\u00A0partner Foxconn take control of the development and manufacturing of its devices in the country. Sharp says it will continue to &amp;quot;provide brand and sales support&amp;quot; for its mobile business, a\u00A0Morning Whistle report explains.\r\n\r\nFoxconn's parent company Hon Hai struck a deal with Sharp to work together to build mobile devices in June 2012. But now\u00A0it appears that the financially troubled Japanese tech company is downsizing its China-based operations, leaving Foxconn to step into the void.\r\n\r\nSharp originally exited China's mobile market in 2005, but returned to the space in 2009 when it agree to build high-end devices with MTK, NBD says. Critics have argued that a growth in the production and sales of mid- and low-range devices -- exemplified by local brands such as Xiaomi -- have made Sharp's phones too expensive for many, and less desirable than similarly priced devices.\r\n\r\nAn IDC report on China's smartphone industry released in August\u00A0ranked Samsung top on market share, with Lenovo second and ZTE third. Apple (fourth) and Huawei completed a top five that did not include Sharp.\r\n\r\nIt announced it would cut 11,000 jobs\u00A0in September, and then revealed plans to\u00A0lay off 5,000\u00A0employees and\u00A0introduced\u00A0a\u00A0$350 million voluntary redundancy program\u00A0that\u00A0saw 3,000 staff exit. The 100-year-old company fell into poor financial health following lower than expected sales performance and increased competition.\r\n\r\nQualcomm boosted Sharp in December when it agreed to invest\u00A0to invest $120 million\u00A0into the company, but Sharp spent much of last year restructuring its debt crippled business. The company\u00A0estimates it will post annual losses of $5.6 billion.\r\n\r\nWe've reached out to Foxconn and Sharp for comment.\r\n\r\nUpdate: A spokesperson from\u00A0Foxconn Technology Group told TNW: &amp;quot;It is our policy not to comment on any matters related to current or potential customers.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nImage via\u00A0stevensnodgrass / Flickr"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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