Do you remember this? Dave Hakkens launched this concept for a mobile phone made of detachable blocks in 2013. It never found a way to emerge, but it's still a brilliant design.

I remember. Was looking forward to this phone. Made economic sense for customers and that was the problem.

Of course it didn’t. Cell phone makers make a hell of a lot more money enticing you to buy a brand new phone every 1 to 2 years.

I was bullish on it because it felt like a gaming pc type of model - upgradable. but we should've known it'd disrupt the current obsoletist model at play

Hmm. A phone that would mean not having to buy a new up-modded phone every year, therefore potentially much cheaper for customers. I wonder why the big companies didn't market that? lol.

This concept was called "Phonebloks". The idea was to create a customizable phone with detachable components, reducing electronic waste. Though it didn't hit the mainstream. One interesting fact is that Google showed interest in the Phonebloks concept and later developed a similar project called Project Ara. Unfortunately, even Project Ara faced challenges and was eventually shelved in 2016. The dream of a modular phone lives on in the hearts of tech enthusiasts!

I remember that around 2012-2013, all product videos had exactly the same format/feeling. It almost seemed they were done by the same video production team. This was also around the Kickstarter era...

Concepts are easy. Production is hard.

@MKBHD it might be interesting to revisit this detachable phone idea. a personalized modular block would be interesting concept today.

The modularity is client-first thinking!

I was actually kind of excited about this. Seemed like a great idea at the time.