According to the Kyodo news service Panasonic was not happy with NTT Docomo's new marketing plan which offered bigger discounts for smartphones made by Sony and Samsung, the two most popular models in Docomo's handset lineup.

NTT Docomo has effectively been the sole marketing channel for Panasonic's smartphones. The supply halt means that Panasonic will stop developing new smartphones and spend its money making something else.

Panasonic's mobile phone segment booked a group operating loss of in the April-June period, so the production is not really a starter and Panasonic will probably not lose much sleep over mothballing it.