Earlier this year Google had announced to ship Project Ara phones to developers by October this year and then launch globally in 2017. Reuters UK reported that they have obtained the insider information from sources that this project has been suspended internally.
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Google’s Project Ara smartphone, easily the most anticipated and best known of the modular phone projects, has reportedly been cancelled.
While LG’s effort doesn’t have the same level of modularity as Google projected with Ara, it does suggest that building a reliable, long-lasting modular smartphone is far more hard a task than expected.
The company’s aim was to create a phone that users could customize on the fly with an extra battery, camera, speakers or other components.
Google has shelved plans for its Project Ara, its ambitious plan for a modular phone.
A spokeswoman for Google declined to comment on the matter. Well, the decision is said to be a part of an effort to unify Google’s hardware development under former Motorola president Rick Osterloh. Later, when Lenovo acquired Motorola Mobility, Google held on to Project Ara.
Bob O’Donnell, an analyst at TECHnalysis Research, told Reuters that the modular devices are hard to introduce to the market because of bulky parts that are expensive to product.
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That said at the same time Google is said to be preparing to release its own Pixel range of phones, smartphones that Google has itself designed and manufactured versus its Android-powered Nexus range of phones that have sported Google branding but were made by third parties.
