This is a solution desperately searching for a problem. Exactly what Steve Jobs warned against in developing technology.
I personally can't care less about modularity in a phone. Would rather have a 1mm thinner phone over any sort of modularity. Almost all modules can be added wirelessly, unless they are latency-sensitive or very high bandwidth.
Additionally, due to economies of scale, it may make sense to integrate a module that's extremely useful to only a half of the population in every device manufactured and that may still be a net win economically.
Good for everyone, ...except Google shareholders maybe? (Maybe not though; it might earn more for them in marketing value, as Satya Nadella pointed out.)
The guy who built the company with the largest market cap in the US and the phone I am using today and is still my favorite gadget, yes.
Who he is is of little relevance here, by the way. I am not appealing to his authority. I'm simply citing the most prolific source of this mindset I know of to make the concept I am talking about clearer.
I personally can't care less about modularity in a phone. Would rather have a 1mm thinner phone over any sort of modularity. Almost all modules can be added wirelessly, unless they are latency-sensitive or very high bandwidth.
Additionally, due to economies of scale, it may make sense to integrate a module that's extremely useful to only a half of the population in every device manufactured and that may still be a net win economically.