Late yesterday, a report surfaced that shed some extra light on what’s going on behind-the-scenes over at Google. We’ve already heard that there is quite a bit of change coming down the pipe, including some major changes to the way Google launches phones (good bye, Nexus!), but it looks like Google’s not done axing phone projects.
Project Ara has been one of those efforts that, while maybe not reaching the public’s awareness completely, was still something exciting to look forward to. Google’s push into modular phones was expected to be one of the biggest efforts in the niche market, even after companies like LG and Motorola have already put an effort into launching their own modular handsets.
However, as September 1 came to an end, we heard that Project Ara was being suspended.
The reason? An effort for Google to “streamline” the hardware efforts being put forth by the company moving forward. One doesn’t necessarily have to read the tea leaves here to see that Google’s more than likely putting all of its focus, when it comes to smartphones, on the now rumored Pixel and Pixel XL devices.
So while Google is dropping Nexus and focusing on its Pixel brand, essentially launching high-end flagship Google phones, one of the company’s more exciting projects, Project Ara, reportedly gets shelved for the time being. It’s not all bad news, though, as the same report says that Google could license out Project Ara technology to other companies, so we could still see the ideas surface to the top eventually.
But, as it stands right now, it sure sounds like the Project Ara a lot of folks were excited about is not going to happen. At least, not any time soon. Instead, we’re going to see what a modified Android experience from Google looks like. (That’s an odd thing to type.) I’ve already talked about what else I hope Google has the ability to change down the road with its own smartphones, but I do wish the company was still putting some effort into Project Ara.
The project, like Motorola and LG, hadn’t really sold me on the idea of a modular phone as a whole, but I was certainly more entranced by Google’s vision than what has already been brought to market. Just looked and felt a bit more science-fiction than what we’ve seen so far.
Plus, the idea of swapping out individual parts, like a broken camera, instead of getting a whole new phone was a pretty cool idea.
What about you, though? Are you displeased with the news revolving around Project Ara? Let me know!
