Here’s Google’s Modular Phone Dubbed Project Ara May Disrupt The Smartphone Market Itself

By many standards, Google’s most important announcement at its last I/O event was its about to be “disruptive” smartphone which could be in your hands by next year. This modular phone under project name Ara consists of independent detachable modules. Put simply, Project Ara will afford users the opportunity to use their phones as the occasion demands by allowing you detach say the music player or camera for a specific purpose and later attaching it back to the body later. So from glucometers (for diabetes check) to fun modules like video players, Ara wants you to be able to have total control over the hardware. Ara kit will be available to developers from later this year and you can indicate interest on the project website. According to the video attached to this post, these modules can fit into about six slots. The Ara casing contains the sensors, batteries chips and other components that make it a smartphone.

Google has been working on this project for about three years now and the version which has now been announced is a little scaled back from what was announced back in 2014. According to CNET, the modular phone has always seemed like a pipe dream, and Google has always treated it that way. It’s been part of the company’s ATAP division — Advanced Technologies and Products — a skunkworks explicitly tasked with turning such fantasies, like sensors you can swallow, into consumer reality.

But Ara made promises it couldn’t keep. In years past, the modular tech failed repeatedly in demonstrations. The prototype was all set to start a pilot program in Puerto Rico. And then, all of a sudden, it wasn’t, with barely an explanation. There were tweets from the project’s team that suggested ATAP was rethinking how the components linked together. The original idea of Project Ara which was part of Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects ( which was then part of Google-owned Motorola Mobility) was something similar to allowing you to build your own PC from the scratch which by choosing your own RAM and hard disk. This would have probably made this project one to permanently replace the smartphone as we know it. For some reason though, the project has now been down scaled to just you fitting in your desired modules into an already Google built frame. This still makes it retain its potential to disrupt the entire smartphone industry because of the potential it has to make us change the way we approach smartphones.

A disruptive technology

What this technology means is that consumers would eventually not need to change phones especially when the reason is because your current hardware doesn’t meet a particular service need of yours. With this you would just replace modules with an updated version from one of Google’s partners. Google is partnering with Toshiba, Sony, Samsung among others to build components like microphones, speakers, projectors, thermometer among other modules. Ara has the potential to change the way we approach smartphones which is to acquire an entire hardware based on our needs even if you don’t need the entire machine. Modular phones could change this behaviour in a special way. It’s quite intriguing when  you think of this. That said though, it might not be a perfect disruption as expected.

What could go wrong with the entire design?

The fact that this phone is based on modules means these individual components could go missing. There is also the challenge of having to carry these components. Depending on what modules you might need plus based on what your daily activities are, you might need to carry on quite a number of these modules. But there are assurances from Google that the likelihood of this happening may be low as they plan to secure modules with connectors and electro-permanent magnets not to mention durable latches.

The future of the project

This is likely to spread into other devices like PCs and according to CNET, “Google intends to let other companies build Ara frames — not just the modules, but entire Ara computers with module slots — as well. In fact, there’s nothing saying Ara devices need to be phones. “In my lab, I have configurations that don’t have anything to do with a phone and cannot make a phone call.”

In spite of that statement though, Google intends to produce the Ara hardware frame by itself which is a departure from what it did with other hardware like Nexus.

LG has announced a similar project called the G5 earlier this year but that didn’t make a hit as expected. It has a detachable bottom which can replaced with a camera and audio player.

As with any potential disruptions though, competitors like Apple and other top smartphone makers could be gearing up for similar technologies in different forms. For now, the focus is on Google’s Project Ara and we’ll see how it is embraced by the market.

African markets are well receptive to new technologies at least at the urban level and by 2017, it is expected that there will be well over 320 million smartphone users on the continent. Analysts predict that pricing of this new phone could be based on regular smartphone pricing with the modules being the pricey part.