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Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly insisted Facebook is not working on a phone. No way.

"[A] Facebook phone doesn't make sense," Zuckerberg said in an interview last fall. Hereiterated the point again this past January: "We're not going to build a phone."

End of story? Not even close.

Facebook might not be building a phone -- designing hardware from scratch, manufacturing handsets and putting them on shelves. But the social network's invitation to an April 4 press conference, at which Facebook promises to unveil its "new home on Android," has stoked a new wave of speculation that the social network is readying a smartphone that will put Facebook front-and-center.

TechCrunch's Josh Constine writes that sources suggest Facebook will show off a modified version of Google's Android operating system that "will have all sorts of extra Facebook functionality built in."

"Imagine Facebook's integration with iOS 6, but on steroids, and built by Facebook itself. It could have a heavy reliance on Facebook's native apps like Messenger, easy social sharing from anywhere on the phone, and more," writes Constine.

The Wall Street Journal reports the yet-to-be-announced software "displays content from users' Facebook accounts on a smartphone's home screen-the first screen visible when they turn on the device." The Facebook-ified software will debut on HTC phones, but that the social network is seeking other handset makers as partners, according to the Journal. 9to5Google cites its own anonymous sources in a report speculating that Facebook and HTC are prepping an ad campaign promoting the social smartphone. "As a nod to this phone being a much expanded version of the Facebook application found on iOS and standard Android devices, one of the tag-lines for the device is 'more than just an app,'"9to5Google's Mark Gurman writes.

The latest chatter comes after more than two years of Facebook phone rumors, which have covered everything from Facebook's hiring of ex-iPhone engineers, to the codename for the project ("Buffy," according to AllThingsD).

So why the obsession with a Facebook phone? And why would Facebook even bother with its own phone?