About a decade ago, the world saw a rise in the growth of mobile smartphones. At the time, some large companies thought they could revolutionize smartphones by introducing modular architectures. In 2013, Google announced Project Ara, a new smartphone with a modular design. Unlike today's “monolithic” phones, made of sealed-off pieces of aluminum and glass, Ara would allow users to customize their phones in numerous ways, enabling all of the essential parts to be modular. You wouldn’t be forced to upgrade to a new phone as frequently. Instead, you could simply add the best new parts to your older phone, according to your own preferences. Sadly, modularity did not succeed in the mobile phone ecosystem, and the concept remains a mostly forgotten piece of tech history.