ZTE’s concept Eco-Mobius modular phone system has been spied at CES complete with removable modules and wooden back.
The Eco-Mobius is a conceptphone from ZTE sporting removable modules allowing users to upgrade their phone in parts rather than having to by a whole newphone to get the latest hardware.
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The idea is similar to Phonebloks, but rather than clipping the phone modules together like Lego, the parts slide together on rails. These photos taken at the ZTE booth at CES show the Eco-Mobius with removable memory, GPU, CPU, RAM, main camera and a cool optional wooden rear.
Can you see a modular phone in your life in the future?
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Nice! Seems modular phones are gonna be 2014 trend. ZTE, don’t forget WE NEED to set a STANDARD. Why not talk to Motorola, Phonebloks and Xiaomi?
I still don’t see this happening for four reasons:
1) It will be more expensive to produce
2) Currently it might cost you $50 more to go from 16gb to 32gb, but third party companies could then charge a premium of under $20, thus taking profits away from phone manufacturers.
3) This will make phones bigger and heavier.
4) Most processors are SOC, meaning that all of what’s included in that would be on one block, so it wouldn’t nearly be as modular as they’d like to make you believe.
China companies should be the first to show the world how to do this quickly & cheaply. If you let some (no money/budget/resources) kickstaters or old American brand like Motorola getting it done, the end product will be crazy expensive and limited in choice of parts you can swap in/out.
According to the source: “The phone is divided into four independent modules: LCD, core, camera,
and battery. The LCD module includes the screen and lens; the core
module consists of a removable CPU, GPU, ROM and RAM and other
electronic parts. The four modules can be easily disassembled and
assembled through a sliding track design” so:
1) It won’t be that difficult technically speaking or costly (you can produce millions of modules and drop the cost -large scale production).
2) ZTE can always sell the main body parts and make money!
3) It might… but who NEEDS 5mm thick phones?
4) See the above description of the designers. This pioneering movement will give a strong advantage to the first company that achieves to get a nice modular platform.
Nice! Seems modular phones are gonna be 2014 trend. ZTE, don’t forget WE NEED to set a STANDARD. Why not talk to Motorola, Phonebloks and Xiaomi?
I still don’t see this happening for four reasons:
1) It will be more expensive to produce
2) Currently it might cost you $50 more to go from 16gb to 32gb, but third party companies could then charge a premium of under $20, thus taking profits away from phone manufacturers.
3) This will make phones bigger and heavier.
4) Most processors are SOC, meaning that all of what’s included in that would be on one block, so it wouldn’t nearly be as modular as they’d like to make you believe.
China companies should be the first to show the world how to do this quickly & cheaply. If you let some (no money/budget/resources) kickstaters or old American brand like Motorola getting it done, the end product will be crazy expensive and limited in choice of parts you can swap in/out.
According to the source: “The phone is divided into four independent modules: LCD, core, camera,
and battery. The LCD module includes the screen and lens; the core
module consists of a removable CPU, GPU, ROM and RAM and other
electronic parts. The four modules can be easily disassembled and
assembled through a sliding track design” so:
1) It won’t be that difficult technically speaking or costly (you can produce millions of modules and drop the cost -large scale production).
2) ZTE can always sell the main body parts and make money!
3) It might… but who NEEDS 5mm thick phones?
4) See the above description of the designers. This pioneering movement will give a strong advantage to the first company that achieves to get a nice modular platform.