3D Systems to Manufacture Project Ara’s Modular Smartphones

Motorola is moving forward with their Project Ara modular cell phone initiative. While I don’t think the idea of a modular cell phone will ever take off, there are benefits in exploring the tech. Perhaps studying ways to modularize a cell phone will lead to improvements in antenna, battery or screen technology, which would benefit the smartphone market as a whole.

As a stockholder of 3D Systems (DDD), I’m happy to see them chasing new markets as well. While they are one of the major players in the 3D printing industry, they could open up a large new revenue stream if Project Ara smartphones ever get off the ground.

If they could also figure out a way to 3D print some of the components, that would be a future I’m interested in.