Project Ara: Inside Google’s Bold Gambit to Make Smartphones Modular

Google keeps ATAP after selling Motorola, and Project Ara is the group’s attempt to reinvent the smartphone as a modular device. The article says the phone is built around an aluminum endoskeleton, with screen, processor, battery, cameras, and other parts supplied as user-installable modules.

TIME also frames Ara as a response to both the sameness of conventional phones and the need for cheaper devices for new internet users. The project targets a $50 basic version, uses outside partners such as NK Labs and 3D Systems, and faces doubts about size, durability, regulation, cost, and whether buyers will want that much customization.

Reading notes

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• Google retained ATAP after the Motorola sale, and the group is led by Regina Dugan’s former DARPA approach to ambitious projects.
• Project Ara aims to make smartphones customizable through modules that users can assemble in many configurations.
• The first target is a basic $50 phone with Wi-Fi only, aimed at people in developing markets.
• The idea echoes older modular efforts like Handspring’s Springboard and Modu, both of which struggled.
• Phonebloks helped renew interest in modular phones and pushed Motorola to move up Ara’s announcement.
• ATAP works with small in-house teams and external performers; Ara’s core external engineering support comes from NK Labs.
• 3D Systems is developing printers to make customized module enclosures, and possibly even antennas.
• The Ara platform has three sizes: mini, medium, and jumbo, all built around an endoskeleton frame.
• The endo holds networking circuitry and a backup battery, while most other parts arrive as modules.
• The system is designed for hot-swapping modules without powering down the phone.
• The article says modules could let buyers choose cameras, speakers, batteries, and specialized add-ons.
• Google says Ara should stay thin enough to avoid the bulky look people associate with modular devices.
• The current prototype is 9.7mm thick, with room to grow slightly for bigger batteries.
• Google wants the phone to be customizable in appearance too, using printed enclosures with color images and sculptural surfaces.
• Sales would happen through a grayphone starter model, app-based customization, and kiosks built from shipping-container-sized units.
• Google may use optional recommendations based on mood sensors or social-network activity, but buyers can review and reject them.
• The article ends by saying the key question is whether a working demo will convince skeptics and whether enough people will care.