diff --git a/tools/releasetools/apex_utils.py b/tools/releasetools/apex_utils.py
index 644b92a..1c88053 100644
--- a/tools/releasetools/apex_utils.py
+++ b/tools/releasetools/apex_utils.py
@@ -516,7 +516,7 @@
     raise ApexInfoError(
         'Failed to get type for {}:\n{}'.format(apex_file, e))
 
-def GetApexInfoFromTargetFiles(input_file):
+def GetSystemApexInfoFromTargetFiles(input_file):
   """
   Get information about system APEX stored in the input_file zip
 
@@ -538,6 +538,11 @@
     tmp_dir = UnzipTemp(input_file, ["SYSTEM/apex/*"])
   target_dir = os.path.join(tmp_dir, "SYSTEM/apex/")
 
+  # Partial target-files packages for vendor-only builds may not contain
+  # a system apex directory.
+  if not os.path.exists(target_dir):
+    return []
+
   apex_infos = []
 
   debugfs_path = "debugfs"