We have seen some pretty amazing smartphones over the last 12 months such as the LG G Flex 2 with a curved and, to some degree, bendable screen and the iPhone 6s. Again, it is that time of year where all of the biggest OEMs reveal some of the new phones that are looking to be launched in the fall: in preparation for the Christmas holiday shopping season. Lenovo are the latest to unveil some new phones and, to some people, it is quite exciting. The Moto Z and Moto Z Force are both modular phones – the backs of the phones can be removed and replaced with different hardware/tech. Of course, we have seen the LG G5 do this already with modules to attach to the phone. With this in mind, are modular phones the future of smartphones? In this article are the pros and cons to having a modular smartphone.

#1 Choose the Features You Want

By far one of the best thing about modular smartphones is that fact you can choose what features and technology you want to suit your needs.

The way smartphone manufacturers go about making smartphones is by looking at what the majority of people want in a phone. For the most case, this is the same such as a nice touchscreen, fast processor, good battery and slim design. However, some people want really good speakers, other people want a really good camera and others may want an extremely fast processor or a better flash on the camera. In these case, standard smartphones ‘made for the masses’ are not good enough. However, with modular phones, this would be made possible. You can remove the features you don’t want and add the features that you do want.

#2 Costly

However, with any new technology comes a price and we can expect to see the first truly modular phone to be quite expensive. For example, Project Ara by Google is the best look to making a modular phone – this has been going on for years and is still quite a way away from finishing. All of this time researching and building this phone is going to cost the consumer when it does go on sale to the public.

#3 Never Need an Upgrade

Putting everything aside, the best thing about modular smartphones such as the idea Project Ara is involved with is that once you have the chassis, you will never need to upgrade the whole phone again. By this, you will only need to upgrade the components/modules when needs be, such as a better battery when your last one dies, a better processor when the next generation is out and so on.

#4 Not Truly Modular Yet

The main problem we are facing is the fact that all modular phones out currently are not truly modular – you cannot replace every component inside the phone but just one. To hit the market by a storm, the next modular phone needs to be truly modular so that the consumer has the choice to change whatever they want in the phone with whatever is available on the open source modular market.