Asustek and Garmin have made their last Garmin-Asus smartphone, the two companies have announced.

Asustek will instead design and manufacture its own phones, and Garmin will develop apps, some of which will be preloaded onto Asustek phones.

The companies will continue to sell the six handset models launched under the Garmin-Asus brand since February 2009, as well as continuing software updates and support for these handsets.

“Garmin and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. today announced a strategic decision to alter their current co-branded business model for location-centric mobile handsets,” the firms said in a joint statement.

“The two companies will not introduce any new co-branded handset models going forward, but will continue to sell and support models that have already been introduced to the market.”

Asustek plans to design and manufacture its own Asus-branded mobile phones and will continue to preload Garmin navigation and location-based service applications on some of those phones, the companies said.

Additionally, Garmin will expand its line of mobile handsets and offer navigation and, likely, location-based applications through "certain consumer application stores," it said in a statement. 

It will be entering a crowded market. The Apple App Store already offers nearly 200 mapping applications, while Google Maps is available free to users with phones running Android.