Back in 2013, Project Ara was announced. The goal of Project Ara was to create a modular smartphone with parts that could be swapped in and out as needed, and it was an ambitious plan with potential, but every year since its inception saw its release pushed back by a year and another year.
Unfortunately it looks like it might have gotten to a point where a commercial release may no longer be viable because according to a report from Reuters, they are reporting that Project Ara is no more and has been shelved. Google has declined to comment on the report, but Reuters claims that this move is done in a bid to unify Google’s various hardware efforts.
Assuming this is true, this would be quite a pity as Project Ara did show a lot of promise. However given that LG and Motorola’s efforts at modular smartphones haven’t exactly taken off in a big way, we’re not sure if Project Ara would have fared any better itself either, despite it on paper sounding very promising.
That being said, the report claims that Project Ara won’t be completely binned. Instead Google could be considering licensing out Project Ara’s technology so that other companies who are interested can pick up where they left off, or maybe use it for a different purpose, but in the meantime is anyone else a little bummed by this piece of news?
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