Google Project Ara
One of the most ambitious concepts on this list, Google’s Project Ara was an attempt to bring the upgradability and reparability that you get from desktop PCs to the phone world, via the use of little interchangeable modules. The idea was simple: If someone wanted to upgrade a phone component like a camera or even an entire display, they could simply replace that individual component instead of being forced to buy a whole new device.
Each phone was based around a modular “shell” with multiple attachment points for all sorts of modules, ranging from standard equipment like batteries and CPUs to more specialized modules like air quality sensors. Unfortunately, while Google got as far as scheduling large-scale tests and even setting a retail launch schedule, Project Ara was canceled in 2016 before a single unit ever made it to stores.
