By now, you might have heard of Google"s modular phone ambitions, which is codenamed Project Ara. Revealed in February 2014, the idea was that you can swap out different parts of a phone, in favor of ones that fit your needs. It would have been the ultimate choice for customization.
According to a new report from Reuters, the company has suspended the project, as the move is "part of a broader push to streamline the company"s hardware efforts". The news is surprising, to say the least. The last we heard about Ara was only a few months ago in May at Google"s I/O Developer Conference where it promised at the time, that it would be shipping to developers this fall, and a consumer model would arrive sometime in 2017.
While Google declined to comment to Reuters about Project Ara"s demise, the firm will certainly have to make an announcement at some point with the fall season being only a few weeks away.
The report also states that while Google won"t be making the Project Ara phones, it"s possible that the company may strike licensing deals with partners to bring the technology to the consumer market. Still, while technology enthusiasts can"t wait for modularity, the general public probably won"t miss it, as the resulting hardware would likely have been bulky and potentially expensive.
Source: Reuters