Phonebloks really got this idea of modular smartphone hardware rolling last year, and the attention it attracted helped formed the basis for ideas like Google’s Project Ara, with which Phonebloks is directly involved. Today the company updates us a little on what it’s been up to lately, revealing a hardware manufacturer it’s partnered up with and talking about how it sees this modular hardware idea finding uses beyond just phones.
Part of the appeal of modular designs isn’t just that a particular phone can employ modules from any number of manufacturers, but that also that any particular module could find a home in a wide number of devices. We’ve often been thinking about that in terms of other smartphones, but Phonebloks wants to see the industry take advantage of the standardization that modularity affords by using these components in all manner of products. For instance, maybe you’d pop the 4G LTE radio out of your phone and slide it into your laptop, or you’d slap a new application processor into your HDTV in order to let it run the latest apps.
It all makes more than a bit of sense, since if we’re already looking at modules designed with smartphone size and power restrictions in mind, it’s not like we’d have to redesign anything to fit in larger devices.
As for that new hardware partner, Phonebloks has teamed up with Sennheiser, in the hopes of bringing its audio know-how to this whole modular business. That sounds pretty promising, as audio output is one of those areas that often feels like it doesn’t get the attention it deserves, and modular hardware may finally give smartphone-using audiophiles the tools they need to really take control of their phones’ audio performance.
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