Google has reportedly canned Project Ara, its plan to build a modular smartphone

Google has halted work on Project Ara, it’s ambitious initiative to build the world’s first fully modular smartphone, reports Reuters.

The cancellation, says Reuters, comes as part of a move to unify the company’s disparate hardware divisions under former Motorola president Rick Osterloh, who rejoined Google earlier in the year.

Google will reportedly license the technology to OEMs, but will not release a device itself.

All of this is surprising given the emphasis Google put on Project Ara at its most recent I/O developer conference this past May. Developer versions of the device were supposed to start shipping this fall, with a consumer release previously set for sometime in 2017.

Partway through last year, Project Ara hit a development snag. At the time, the initiative’s Twitter account joked that the phone had problems surviving drop tests, though in the end perhaps that’s what did the project in.

Related: The man who inspired Google’s Project Ara pens critical blog post

[source]Reuters[/source]