With Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. still reeling from the news that its been banned from doing business with U.S. technology firms, conflicting reports are emerging about its plans to create a new operating system to power its future devices.

A report from The Information published today appears to contradict Chinese media claims that Huawei has a replacement OS ready to launch later this year.

The Information claims Huawei’s homemade OS is known internally as “Project Z,” and said it has been in development for several years. It was originally designed as a replacement for Android that would power the company’s devices in China only, but Huawei says it has been forced to “accelerate the OS project” with a much wider focus.

Richard Yu, chief executive officer of Huawei’s consumer electronics business group, told The Information the firm was being forced to launch its own OS and application ecosystem, claiming the U.S. government ban on it receiving Android updates was a “big surprise” to the company.

However, The Information says Project Z remains “far from ready” and that the development process has been a “turbulent” one. And even when the OS is ready, Huawei faces an almost impossible challenge in trying to convince third-party developers to create applications for it.

It shouldn’t be so difficult with regard to Chinese developers, over which Huawei has a big influence, but foreign developers will need a lot of convincing that it’s worth putting the time in to rewrite their apps specifically for Huawei’s phones only. Yu admitted that creating such an ecosystem was nevertheless crucial for the new operating system’s future success.

The Information’s report was in stark contrast to an earlier story that appeared in Chinese media, which also quoted Yu. According to the website Caijing, Huawei’s new OS will be ready to launch either in the second half of this year or early 2020, and will be used on its phones, computers and tablets, and also in cars, TVs and wearable devices. Caijing also said the OS would be compatible with Android applications, which suggests it could be some kind of Android clone.

It’s not clear which story is correct, but The Information does have a long track record of providing accurate reports on such matters. Then again, it could be that both reports are true: There’s no reason why Huawei couldn’t be working on an Android clone in addition to its own homegrown OS.

In any case, Huawei needs to move quickly. Following the ban on it doing business with U.S. firms, the Department of Commerce granted Huawei a three-month reprieve that allows it to continue receiving updates and buy components from American companies. However, it seems the main purpose of the reprieve is to limit the impact on U.S. consumers and firms, rather than give Huawei room for maneuver.

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