Google Kills Off Project Ara
Google’s endeavour to bring a modular handset to market looks to be dead in the water after the company confirmed to VentureBeat that Project Ara has been suspended.
The initiative was a product by the company’s effort to develop a new modular breed of handset, whose individual components could be upgraded and customised through a vibrant third-party ecosystem.
Essentially, it allowed users to slot in a new camera or CPU for their smartphone in the same way that they do SD cards.
Rather than a buy a new handset every few years, you’d just replace the parts that you wanted to improve.
Google had previously pledged to see Project Ara make its way into the hands of developers by fall of 2016.
According to Reuters, “axing Project Ara is one of the first steps in a campaign to unify Google’s various hardware efforts, which range from Chromebook laptops to Nexus phones.”
Reports say that while the plans for Ara phone itself have been nixed, the company may still work with third-party partners to bring the modular technology to market through licensing agreements.