Alphabet Inc has reportedly shelved Google’s Project Ara modular phone experiment. The company has not made any official announcements about the change in direction, although people close to the matter claim that it is part of a greater effort to streamline the company’s hardware projects.
News of the change of plans should not come as a surprise to those who have been following the development of Project Ara. Numerous delays have plague its release; including cancelling a planned pilot project to sell the device in Puerto Rico.
As it turns out, manufacturing individual modules for a smartphone is not cheap and the components end up being far bulkier than most consumers would like. Despite this, the idea of a highly customisable smartphone is still very popular within the tech industry.
Google may be dropping the modular phone plan, but it could still be involved in the future development of similar devices. The company is also apparently looking into the possibility of licensing the designs to other manufacturers who are still keen on the idea of modular parts.
[Source: Reuters]
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