| There are numerous threads on Reddit that explain very well why this concept is not really feasible [1,2,many] The (imho) most important ones in short: * Mechanical modularity increases size and cost, makes it harder to create a beautiful phone, and is not in the manufacturer's commercial interests. Therefore, it would be hard to find companies/customers to build/buy this. * Many current components are highly integrated - SoCs, sensor ICs, Display/Touchscreen, etc. Making these modular would require development of many new components (and would increase size, cost, power consumption). * The concept assumes that all components use a common communication backplane. This is not feasible, as a variety of voltages and communication protocols are in use in a typical phone (I2C, SPI, UART, USB, various display protocols, etc.). Many components need very short connections to the CPU/GPU/whatever without crossing other PCB traces. It is not really feasible to make this work with a generic communication backplane. Proper heat dissipation for CPU/GPU is another problem. In summary, while it is certainly feasible to build a modular phone (look at David Mellis' DIY cellphone [3]), doing so for current hardware would involve major engineering effort (== design and manufacture dozens of new chips) and would result in less stable, more expensive, and less beautiful phones requiring more power. Nevertheless, such ideas are certainly helpful to catalyze thoughts about future hardware. [1] http://www.reddit.com/r/gadgets/comments/1m6y1q/that_phonebl... [2] http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1m4pmy/el... [many] http://www.reddit.com/r/all/search?q=phonebloks&restrict_sr=... [3] http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=2182 |