Facebook files patent for a modular phone design

Date
21 July 2017

Facebook has filed a patent application for a “modular electro mechanical” device that paves the way for the company to move into producing consumer hardware, namely phones. The patent outlines a device that can incorporate a speaker, touch display, microphone, gps and function as a phone.

The team behind the patent application is Facebook’s Building 8 group, many of whom had previously worked on the Project Ara modular phone for Google before the idea was mothballed last year. Regina Dugan is the head of Building 8 and led the project while at Google. Facebook also acquired startup Nascent Objects last September, a company that focused on the production of modular electronics.

The Building 8 Group includes former employees of Apple, Google and Amazon, among others and is known to be developing camera and machine learning technology. It’s also developing a prototype of a brain sensor that is capable of typing 100 words a minute.

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Owen Pritchard

Owen joined It’s Nice That as Editor in November of 2015 leading and overseeing all editorial content across online, print and the events programme, before leaving in early 2018.

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