HTC is "strongly denying" rumors out of China that the Taiwanese tech manufacturer is reportedly planning a sale of its smartphone business. Rumor has it HTC would announce the deal for early 2017.

But HTC has been adamant in its denials of the rumors. In a statement provided to Android Central, a representative from HTC strongly denied the reports, calling them false.

The rumors are entirely false, says HTC.

The rumor seemed to gain legs due to the struggles HTC has faced in 2016. The Taiwanese device maker has posted losses every quarter this year, due in part to the struggling sales of the HTC 10. It also recently released the HTC Bolt, an underwhelming Sprint exclusive that's unlikely to win over many consumers or have an impact on the bottom line.

Given all that, and coupled with the relative success of its manufacturing partnership with Google to create the Pixel, many outlets have jumped on the rumor that the search engine giant would be interested in acquiring HTC's mobile division. Other rumors have claimed HTC's CEO Cher Wang has been getting in touch with collaborators to give them advanced notice of a sale in Spring 2017.

Considering the vehement denial from HTC we can see how these rumors could be more of an assumption than anything substantial, but in the next few months we'll find out if anything moves forward.