Other startups exploring modular
Modular phone design is similar to how hobbyists build their own personal computers or soup up their cars.S. Snap! A vivid screen and good sound because you watch a lot of video Snap! But maybe you could live with a smaller battery because you spend most of your day at home or work. And instead of buying a new phone every year or two, you could just upgrade individual parts as they wear out or become obsolete. Snap!Sure, phones now offer choices . Though it comes assembled, you can replace the screen for less than $100, or the camera for $40.With modular design, you could just pay for the components you need instead of settling for whatever manufacturers put in their designs.
But the rest of the phone is pretty standard. product strategy and marketing.Chinese phone maker ZTE has circulated concept designs.Google's Project Ara, which isn't making products yet, is also outlining a modular-design approach that starts with a structural frame and lets you add cameras, sensors and batteries. You give that up when you go modular. Google figures a phone could cost as little as $50 using China Fuel filter components Manufacturers the most basic parts. You're stuck with the processor, battery and other hardware chosen by Motorola, Apple, Samsung and other tech companies. For starters, you'll be able to attach a camera grip with physical shutter buttons or insert a high-fidelity audio system if regular MP3-quality sound isn't good enough for you.LG is dipping its toes in the modular-design concept with its upcoming G5 smartphone, announced this week at a wireless conference. Say you want a great camera. Motorola goes a bit further in letting you choose custom backs made of wood or leather..For one thing, modular design is itself a trade-off. The bottom of the phone pops out to let you swap in new hardware.This file picture shows a high-fidelity audio system for the LG G5 phone in New York. Swap in a new camera or screen, and the older processors might not know what to do with it. Project Ara missed its 2015 target for a pilot project in Puerto Rico and suggested in cryptic tweets that designing modules has proven more complicated than expected. The camera might stutter, the screen might blink, and both might drain the battery faster than expected.zzelec.Ronan de Renesse, lead analyst for consumer technology with the research firm Ovum, says many parts in current smartphones are designed specifically to work together.
Other startups exploring modular phones include Finland's PuzzlePhone (as in the components fit together like a puzzle). An expansion port will let people add components - perhaps for wireless charging or mobile payments - that Fairphone or outside parties make in the future. Google had no further comment.That's the promise of modular design, a new concept in smartphones that would basically let you snap together different components like Lego blocks. The module connects to the phone’s bottom to offer higher-quality sound.A Dutch startup called Fairphone is selling the $580 Fairphone 2 online. Many consumers want phones to be thin, light and power efficient, and that means all the parts have to be tightly integrated.Samsung, for instance, rejects modular design, preferring to offer "the best combination of features and functionality" in a compact and elegant design, says Justin Denison, Samsung's senior vice president for U.Modular design also isn't easy. (Photo: AP)If you could build your dream smartphone, what would it look like Now suppose you could put it together yourself. But there's no guarantee the idea will take off. in color and storage.