Why buy a new smart phone every year when you can swap out individual components such as a new fitness tracker or camera?  Apparently this is Google's new philosophy as they roll out their new Android smart phone next year composed of individual modules that can be swapped in and out, much like LEGO bricks.

Project Ara, Google's project name for their new modular phone, may very well take smart phone technology to an entirely different level never seen before.  Their new smart phone provides a base from which six independent modules can be popped in and out without requiring a phone restart.  Google has partnered with such companies as Sony, iHealth, Toshiba, Samsung, Micron, E Ink and Panasonic to create independent components that provide a multitude of functions.  Radios, graphic accelerators, glucose monitors, fitness trackers, microphones, cameras and speakers are just some of the components that manufacturers are creating in order to allow users to essentially build their phone to their own custom specifications.

With this latest move by Google, the potential for further innovation and advancement of the smart phone is impressive.  Instead of limiting new technology to the addition of more and more apps or revamped websites, developers and manufacturers as well, are given an entirely new platform from which to foster a new level of creativity in the IT world.

Avid technology fans can expect a rollout of the developer edition of Google's new Ara smartphone shipping in the Fall of 2016, with the consumer version rollout expected in 2017.  For more information on this and other trends in the world of technology, please contact us.