> Many mobile phones are already modular to an extent. Replaceable batteries, replaceable SD cards, replaceable SIM cards.
I'm not sure those are great examples of modularity on the march; replaceable batteries and replaceable SD cards, at least, are both much less common on smartphones today than they were (say) five years ago. The trend for the last couple of years has been towards non-user-serviceable batteries and omitting external storage slots altogether.
(I wish it wasn't, since I want my phone to have those features, but that's the way the market has been going.)
The idea I have heard most is that is happening because Google is pushing it for people to use their "cloud" services. You don't need a lot of space for music, use my cloud music streaming service. Don't store your documents in your device, use Google docs. Out of memory in Drive? You should upgrade your plan. And so on.
As a person that likes to carry an awful lot of music allways, it sucks a lot and really limits your choices when buying a new phone.
I'm not sure those are great examples of modularity on the march; replaceable batteries and replaceable SD cards, at least, are both much less common on smartphones today than they were (say) five years ago. The trend for the last couple of years has been towards non-user-serviceable batteries and omitting external storage slots altogether.
(I wish it wasn't, since I want my phone to have those features, but that's the way the market has been going.)