Sony Mobile CEO and President Hiroki Totoki has recently asserted that the Japanese tech giant will never quit the smartphone market.

According to a report in Tech Radar, for quite sometime now, the rumor mill has been abuzz with reports that the Japanese company may stop manufacturing and marketing smartphones, as the smartphone is considered to be one of the least profitable divisions of this colossal corporation.

Moreover, a report in published in Reuters in February quoting Sony CEO Hazuo Hirai that he did not rule out the possibility of considering an exit strategy for the smartphone as well as the ailing TV divisions reinforced the public perception that the Japanese company may stop making smartphones.

In fact, Sony's move to sell off its Vaio PC business also showed that the company would not hesitate to get rid of unprofitable businesses under its huge umbrella.

Such random speculations and more have virtually led Totoki to issue a statement that clarified in no uncertain terms that Sony "will never ever sell or exit from the current mobile business."

During a recent interview with ArabianBusiness.com, Totoki make clear why Sony would never give up its mobile business. The company CEO is reported to have told the website, "Smartphones are completely connected to other devices, also connected to people's lives - deeply... We're heading to the IoT [Internet of Things] era and have to produce a number of new categories of products in this world; otherwise we could lose out on a very important business domain."

Meanwhile, this statement should dismiss all rumors about Sony exiting the smartphone market for now. However, these rumors many never disappear permanently unless the future smartphones from Sony are able to turn things around - and crucially break into the US market.