Google is reportedly planning to debut a $50 smartphone as soon as the first quarter of next year.
The device is in the works under the project name "Ara," according to a report from India Today.
Intended to be highly customizable, the phones will give buyers a plethora of options for specifications and hardware. The device's pieces would be "detachable components," allowing any part of the phone to be replaced as necessary, India Today reported.
Google is planning a developer conference focused on the new phone that will be held April 15-16 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., where the tech giant is headquartered.
According to a report from TechNewsWorld, Project Ara centers on a device with a "endoskeleton" core frame that holds the pieces together, allowing consumers to trade other components in and out.
Google's main goal with the developer conference is to bring in fresh ideas for the unique phone model.
The company hopes to pull in "app developers large and small--and new and old companies with ideas who want to change the industry," telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan told TechNewsWorld.
The modular smartphones can evolve based on what the user needs; i.e., a touchscreen can be replaced with a physical keyboard, or a camera can be swapped out for a backup battery.
"The potential for Project Ara is vast, at least if you consider the idea of easily customizable commercial smartphones important," Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, told TechNewsWorld.
"Personally, I love the idea of choosing phone features as easily as you would configure a Dell PC. Like other Google moon shot projects, [its success] depends on enticing and exciting developers. They'll be doing a lot of the Project Ara heavy lifting," he said.
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