Since the very first PC hit the market, there’s always been an emphasis on making computers that were upgradeable and sufficiently versatile. This trend took a bit of a slump with laptops, limiting you to being able to upgrade only the RAM, the hard drive, and a few non-core components. The smartphone made this even worse, with many of them allowing you only to expand storage with a microSD card, and some of them not even allowing you this privilege. Enter 2014. Motorola and ZTE have both made announcements that they will be developing phones with interchangeable parts. The fact that manufacturers have a vested interest in making this work shows that this kind of development is an inevitability. It’s time to discuss whether modular smartphones are a force to be reckoned with, or if this idea will just end up a novelty that won’t make it very far.
What’s The Advantage?
I think it goes without saying that having a proper interchangeable-parts ecosystem on smartphones will really push the limits of what you can do with your device, making this a great phenomenon. Think about it: You don’t have to stick to having a 5-megapixel camera if you don’t want to. You can transform it into a 13-megapixel beast with a dynamic depth of field by just switching the old camera module out and introducing the new one.
Having a modular phone means that you don’t have to pay for a new phone when you want new hardware. You can just buy the hardware you want to upgrade and slap it on your phone. Not only does it save you money, but it also cuts down on electronic waste. If you’re an environmentalist, you’d totally dig this! And even if you’re not, the potential savings you’d make could compel you to purchase one of these phones.
So, What’s Wrong With Modular Smartphones?
Many things can go wrong in manufacturing such a small device that was originally designed to be pretentious about the kind of hardware that goes into it. First of all, CPU architecture and specifications are changing all the time. The number and types of pins that connect to one device’s motherboard changes in tandem with all of this.
In the end, you will have to change the motherboard at some point, which for all intents and purposes will most likely remain attached to the screen. But what if you just want a bigger screen and don’t want to change the motherboard? This is the point where you probably won’t make the savings you anticipated. These design implications will make it difficult, at the very least, for manufacturers to maintain the same specifications for all the iterations of the hardware that they release.
As the years pass, you’ll find it more difficult to find hardware that fits well into your phone, and you’ll have to buy a new phone anyway. Still, that scenario is better than the “buy a new phone every year” scenario we currently have. Of course, you could just not buy a new phone every time your hardware is a little bit outdated. But why do that when you can just upgrade its components without a hitch?
A Final Word
Overall, the worst that can happen is that you’ll end up with modular phones that are compatible with at least two years’ worth of hardware iterations, which will save you money in the end. The best we can hope for is that the smartphone market will become similar to the PC market, except for the fact that it would be much easier to upgrade your smartphone. I think that modular phones will do exactly what they hope to accomplish, only to a bit of a lesser extent.
What do you think of modular phones? Please, let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below!
Miguel has been a business growth and technology expert for more than a decade and has written software for even longer. From his little castle in Romania, he presents cold and analytical perspectives to things that affect the tech world.
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