(Telecompaper) Japanese electronics company NEC is planning to exit the smartphone market as a planned deal with China's Lenovo fell through, the Nikkei reports. NEC had been in negotiations with Lenovo since late last year, hoping to revive its mobile phone business with Lenovo, offering a majority stake in NEC Casio Mobile Communications to the company. However, the two firms could not come to an agreement. NEC, which has a market share of around 5 percent in Japan, now plans to stop development of new smartphones, including the Casio-branded phones, and focus only on conventional handsets. NEC will continue to consider selling off some mobile phone-related patents and is still open to a partnership.