Project Ara delayed until 2016, looking for new locations in US

The Project Ara team just announced through its Twitter account that its modular smartphone won’t hit the public until next year. It had initially planned to get a test launch up and running towards the end of this year, but it seems Google has come up against some stumbling blocks. As it explained on Twitter, chief stumbling block was not being able to predict the number of variations possible. It stated there were far more iterations than they’d originally thought.

Just before announcing the delay, the company stated that it’s looking for new locations to test the product in the U.S:

[tweet https://twitter.com/ProjectAra/status/633356613613555712 align=’center’]

[tweet https://twitter.com/ProjectAra/status/633358044517154816 align=’center’]

[tweet https://twitter.com/ProjectAra/status/633359350656954368 align=’center’]

Project Ara is Google’s ambitious project to make a smartphone with swappable components. This modular design would let customers upgrade specific parts when they want, whether it be wanting a better camera, or replacing a dead battery, boosting RAM or swapping out the screen. The options are virtually limitless. Google had initially intended on running a test launch in Puerto Rico, but as revealed recently, the company has decided to re-route the pilot.

The company wants to reassure us that its experimental product isn’t dead, it’s just delayed. A message which probably won’t do much to ease the frustration, or anticipation, that many tech enthusiasts have about the product. Or just the curiosity we have to see if, and how Ara works in real life, with regular consumers. Sadly, the wait to find that out just got a little longer.