Why did modular phones fail? Surely they could be simplified to a system that actually works for people, right?

>>105972141 (OP)
Because if you drop that thing it turns into a 52 card pickup

it will always be more expensive and less efficient (processing power heat etc) than regular phones. people aren't willing to pay for it

>>105972171
kek. Imagine the smell.

>>105972171
if you drop a normal phone it shatters half the time, too
just have an integrated case system instead of only dealing with 3rd party

>>105972179
using phones as multipurpose platforms is more common than ever now though, so people might find more value in it now. Plus it would be good for a small subset of the population at least, who would see the appeal of a "normal phone" with features like a thumbboard or hotswappable batteries.

>>105972202
bot post?

imagining a cyberpunk montage where i stack more and more parallel processing cores into my handheld ai machine. Or peel off just the top two rows because my "daily carry" is just a camera and comms. I still have Desktop components from 2018 (1080ti) so a ship-of-thessius phone would be cool too. But iphone just got 800 of my moms dollars, versus spending $100 a year to upgrade a single part.

I think modular devices will become more popular when risc-v gets more popular alongside them

>>105972580
And will run on the HURRRRRRRRRRRRD kernel.

>>105972624
actually it'll run haiku :)

>>105972141 (OP)
>have almost an entire phones worth of modules sitting doing nothing at home
I'd rather have old and new complete phones than 1.5 phones worth of modularity.

>>105972888
idk if the modules were stuff like a bigger screen vs a smaller screen + keyboard, or a speaker, or a camera setup vs no camera, or double batteries, or being able to remove the gps features or something and swap them with physical USB ports or something, I think it would be alright. At that point they're just peripherals, but integrated into a phone.

>>105973130
You're romanticizing the idea of a modular phone without thinking about how it will actually work. Even desktops are less modular than you think a phone could be and they're much easier to make modular.
Guess what, they tried making modular desktops like that with alienware, it flopped. They're trying it with laptops and it's not really what was promised. Every modular phone project was killed before it hit markets.
People think modularity means saving money and gaining freedom but it just locks you into an ecosystem even more. You also get the privilege of paying extra for the shit most people get bundled into the price of a new device.

>>105972141 (OP)
Not profitable enough
They should have turned the tech towards tablets instead. I would actually really enjoy a modular tablet or essentially a modular screen that could run android, linux or windows

>>105972141 (OP)
They didn't fail, they were strangled in the crib by MBA think.

>>105972141 (OP)
water resistance

Because they aren't user repairable. And that doesn't mean fairphone levels of modularity like replacing camera or the entire screen and motherboard with 8 screws but WHY the FUCK would you not at least have a replaceable battery.

Why even make a modular phone and not at least make the battery replaceable and hot swappable. Add a seal around the back if you want and even add screws to keep the seal pressed, that's what fairphone 6 did, but at least make the battery not fucking glued down.

Also most phones that are android are generally poorly supported. Even today in 2025 most devs like lineageOS project refuse to port most phones and only support old shit.

>>105972214
i mean there was no trigger word for a brap... maybe a broken bot?

>>105973461
Literally nobody cares about that marketing designed to justify removing removable batteries and useful ports.

>>105972141 (OP)
I'm beginning to think that only /g/ fags like tinkering with things and "it just werks" is still king

>>105972141 (OP)
No inter-manufacturer standard, and no manufacturer both big enough and intrested in mantaining their own on new models.
USB-C accessories already provide expansion options, the issue is (Most) phones only include one so no accessories for you if you're charging or using another accessory (Unless the accessory has a passthrough)
>>105972204
If you drop a regular phone, usually only the screen breaks and you get a few dents. If it falls apart, the modules rely on some sort of alignment and could no longer work
>>105973256
ngl, I'd be down for phones being modular the same way desktops are, imagine just buying a new board or a new camera instead of replacing the whole thing
>What's the benefit to manufacturers?
Some parts are gonna break or become obsolete eventually, so you still get money over time. Plus, standard cases means economies of scale and the ability to release peripherals