Google shelves its modular mobile project: reports

Google has decided to shelve its modular handset programme, Project Ara, to streamline the company's hardware efforts, according to reports.

Sources close to the company revealed to pc-tablet.co.in, that Google plans to make a huge push by investing in cutting-edge hardware for smartphones and tablets.

Google had announced a wide range of partners for Project Ara at its developer conference. The company had also announced that it would release a developer edition of the product in autumn.

The decision to drop the project is now being seen as a big reverse for the company. The company mainly aimed to create a fully customisable smartphone to allow users to integrate an extra battery, camera, speakers or other internal components.

According to industry analysts, Project Ara had been axed in a bid to unite Google's various hardware platforms, which included Chromebook laptops to Nexus phones. It may be recalled that former Motorola president Rick Osterloh re-joined Google in early 2016 to monitor the Ara project.

Even though Google would not release the phone, the company plans to work with partners to bring the Project Ara technology into reality.

This was done through a series of license agreements. Google though had declined to comment any further on this matter.

The Ara group had scheduled a pilot test of the device in Puerto Rico last year, but shelved the plan as it attempted to cut down the device's cost and solve technical hurdles.

Google had also promised a developer version in May that, would not allow users to swap out the phone's processor, battery, or display, which went against the original concept.

Now, it appeared that the phone had been scrapped, however, Reuters reported that Google might license the technology to third parties.

However, commentators point out that the modular concept is not dead though, and Motorola, a company once owned by Google and now a subsidiary of Lenovo, had the new Moto Z with modular backplates for stuff like additional battery power, a projector, and a speaker, though it was nowhere near as customisable as the Ara concept.