Image: Google
A modular phone is a great concept, on paper. It reduces e-waste and allows for ultra-customization of a smartphone. But Project Ara, Google's modular phone concept, won't hit the market this year because of one giant downfall: it breaks. Really, really easily.In a tweet sent this afternoon, Project Ara summed it all up with one hashtag: #failedthedroptest. To blame were electropermanent magnets, which can connect together with one magnetic field while utilizing a separate one that's on an on-off basis for the electronic applications. This means that, theoretically, they can stick together without having to have all the components turned on.There's no word yet on what might replace electropermanent magnets, previously the backbone of making Project Ara work.