Tech giant Google recently announced that Project Ara will be suspended. Project Ara is Google's ambitious undertaking to bring a modular smartphone into the market.
Reports reveal that Google is suspending Project Ara in order to streamline its resources into more pressing projects. Moreover, Google said about its intension not to ship developed products from Project Ara, instead the company is considering licensing some of the technologies to interested third parties, according to ZDNet.
There are rumors claiming that Google is working into a new hardware division, hence the decision to break down Project Ara. The said division is headed by former Motorola President Rick Osterloh whose task is to combine Google's hardware initiatives into a single portfolio.
Back in May, Google headed a discussion about Project Ara at the annual Google I/O conference. Back then, Google announced that the project received backing from new partners. However, the search engine giant failed to release the project's developer version the following fall which the company initially promised.
During its run, Project Ara was also plagued by several problems. Google originally envisioned to test the project in Puerto Rico but it was delayed several times.
Google was not able to release a working prototype, but those working on Project Ara claim that the handset was light and thin. The team working on the project was able to achieve this by integrating the smartphone's core technology into its frame. This allows them to create six modular slots that are built to support various peripherals. Each of the slots are generic and support any type of functionality ranging from cameras to speakers.
In a statement acquired by BBC, HIS senior director of mobile and telecoms Ian Fogg said, "Project Ara went against every lesson the smartphone market has learnt over the years, eliminating the removable battery for example."
