10 years later, no phone has replaced what Google promised

Google’s Project Ara boldly tried to bring the customization and interoperability of PC assembling to our smartphones. The idea of upgrading only the parts of your smartphone that were outdated felt like a tech utopia. You’d never need to switch your entire phone, but instead turn it into a ship of Theseus of sorts with each upgrade.

However, if you look at the smartphone market now, some ten years since Project Ara was conceived, you’ll see that we’ve gone in the opposite direction. Smartphone makers are doing all they can to make even repairability difficult, let alone giving you modular upgrade options.



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