Is Facebook working on its own smartphone?

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Kimihiro Hoshino, AFP/Getty Images

Social network Facebook is reportedly partnering with smartphone maker HTC to jointly create a mobile device, says the Taiwan-based news site DigiTimes.

Citing "industry sources," the report claims the smartphone will launch as early as the third quarter of 2012.

The report doesn't get into details about how this Facebook-branded device would function, other than it would "enable and integrate all functions available on the social-networking site."

HTC isn't new to building smartphones with the social network in mind. It launched two devices -- Salsa and ChaCha -- with a Facebook share button that allowed users to upload photos, videos or other items with one push.

Rumors of Facebook creating a branded smartphone are nothing new. Two years ago, TechCrunch reported the company had a device in the works, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg shot down that idea in an interview right after the initial report was published.