Motorola is looking to make smartphones as customisable as its interface, letting users swap out components.
Project Ara lets users slot "modules" containing different components into the phone's body - or as the creators are calling it, "endoskeleton".
"We want to do for hardware what the Android platform has done for software," said Paul Eremenko, head of Motorola's advanced technology group. "[To] create a vibrant third-party developer ecosystem, lower the barriers to entry, increase the pace of innovation, and substantially compress development timelines."
The hardware isn't yet available to consumers, and will open up to developers later this year.
How it works
Each module would contain hardware such as the battery, chip or different sensors, which could be swapped out individually.
"A module can be anything, from a new application processor to a new display or keyboard, an extra battery, a pulse oximeter - or something not yet thought of," said Motorola.
Motorola has teamed up with Phonebloks for the project, a startup that has pioneered the idea.
Phonebloks got started after founder Dave Hakkens noticed that phones were often binned when only a single component had gone wrong.
"Recently, we met Dave Hakkens, the creator of Phonebloks," said Motorola. "Turns out we share a common vision: to develop a phone platform that is modular, open, customisable, and made for the entire world."
Despite its vision, Motorola hasn't given many details on its project - such as how much a device would actually cost.
It also isn't clear how it'll ensure hardware compatibility between third-party "modules", though the company said it will release a developer's kit later this year.
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