Google’s modular phone

Project Ara is Google’s attempt to stop us all buying a new iPhone every six months. The modular phone will allow users to slot in and out different parts of the device (such as cameras and speakers), meaning when phone technology improves you can simply swap in a new module rather than buy a whole new phone. The Ara phone has been delayed before, but Google hope it will be on the market in 2017.

Google has confirmed reports saying its modular Project Ara smartphone project has been suspended. When asked about the status of Ara, a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat the phone would not be coming to market, despite the company saying as recently as May that an Ara phone would ship to developers this fall. The decision was reportedly made by Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh, who's been trying to streamline the company's seemingly disorganized product lineup. News of the suspension was first reported earlier today by Reuters. 

This is a sad turn of events for fans of the ambitious modular concept, which was put forth by Google's experimental ATAP group under former chief Regina Dugan, who left Google for Facebook earlier this year. About three years ago, the Ara team developed a concept design that reimagined the smartphone as a series of smaller, LEGO-style bricks that could be attached, rearranged, and swapped out in seconds. The logic was borrowed from the high-end PC market, where various aspects of the computer can be changed endlessly in lieu of replacing the whole package every couple of years.

The Ara group scheduled a pilot test of the device in Puerto Rico last year, but ultimately shelved the plan in an attempt to bring down the device's cost and solve technical hurdles. In May, Google promised a developer version that, contrary to the project's original vision, would not allow users to swap out the phone's processor, battery, or display. Now, it appears the phone is no more, though Reuters reports Google may license the technology to third parties.For what it's worth, the modular dream appears to live on in Motorola, a company once owned by Google and now a subsidiary of Lenovo. The new Moto Z has modular backplates for things like additional battery power, a projector, and a speaker, though it's nowhere near as customizable as the Ara concept was.

Google's modular phone, called Project Ara, will make its way to developers this fall, the company announced at its I/O developer conference last week. And as Ara inches closer to reality, so too does its potential to change all smartphones.Project Ara, Google's version of the Phonebloks project, is similar to most Android phones, but with an emphasis placed on modularity. Instead of buying one phone and being stuck with a single configuration, the phone's frame allows you to change out various parts of the device as necessary, making upgrading your phone as easy as swapping CDs in a CD player or changing Game Boy games. The idea is fairly retro, but the benefits, if executed right, could make waves across smartphones as we know them.

The new video trailer for Ara shows many examples of how it can be useful. A photographer swaps out the included camera for a slightly bulkier, and likely more powerful, one. In addition to the included speaker, additional speaker modules are added to improve sound. A kickstand is added when the phone needs to be propped up. We even see a young boy pop a breath mint out of a compartment module before his first kiss.The mantra "there's an app for that" could apply not just to software you use on the phone, but the hardware of the device as well. Need a kickstand-supported, bass-booming, breath-freshening smartphone? There's a module for that.

If done right, Project Ara may make replacing that cracked screen much easier, simply a matter of buying a new one and clicking it into place. If a user just wants next year's better, extra-pixel-dense screen, they can just buy that part. Same goes for other aspects of the hardware.Smartphone buyers won't be forced to get rid of an entire phone in order to get the latest, greatest experience. Today, if your built-in battery craps out, for example, when you upgrade, you're also tossing a perfectly usable camera, SSD flash drive for storage, RAM memory, processor and more.But there's still some waste entailed in modularity. Depending on how Google executes its Ara plans, the plastic involved in making each part of the phone its own module could negate the benefit, with each component inside your cell phone requiring its own plastic housing, and packaged and sold separately.Project Ara devices will make their way to developers this fall of 2016. Consumers can expect the modular phones sometime after.