Google is said to have scrapped its plans to bring to market its Project Ara modular smartphone as part of a push to streamline its hardware efforts according to an unconfirmed report published Thursday.

Reuters makes the claim quoting “sources familiar with the matter” but does note that Google may still work with partners to bring Project Ara’s technology to market through licensing agreements.

Google has neither confirmed not denied the report.

The move is a serious backflip for the search giant given that it announced in May that it was not only moving forward with Project Ara but would be bringing it to market “later this year” with a developer edition in the fourth quarter.

Project Ara was first conceived by Motorola Mobility, Inc. back in 2013, and was retained by Google when it sold the company to Lenovo Group Ltd.; the concept of the phone was to deliver free, open hardware for modular smartphones where a user is able to swap out the various aspects of the phone for new alternatives when they became available, a phone that could be upgraded as the years progressed.

The version Google showed in May, however, had abandoned at least some of the modular nature of the phone with the processor, RAM, and screen being fixed but other parts being able to be swapped out.

Consolidation

According to the report, the axing of Project Ara may be the first stage in a push by Google to not only streamline its hardware business but consolidate its hardware lineup under the guidance of former Motorola president Rick Osterloh who rejoined Google earlier this year.

That said at the same time Google is said to be preparing to release its own Pixel range of phones, smartphones that Google has itself designed and manufactured versus its Android-powered Nexus range of phones that have sported Google branding but were made by third parties.

It’s not inconceivable that the consolidation may be part of a push to make Google a serious hardware manufacturer which include the Google Home smart home device.

Whatever the reason it’s somewhat sad to note the decline of Project Ara; while it never came to market the concept of a device where users could slot out parts of a phone to upgrade them or add extra features was a great one in an age where millions of smartphones end up in rubbish dumps as they outlive their usefulness as newer phones with better hardware come to market on a yearly basis.

Image credit: Google/ Project Ara.