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Comment by lessnonymous | Hacker News Reader

This is one of those ideas that look good on paper (or youtube) but just isn't practical. There's absolutely no spare space in a modern phone. If you make it modular, each 'module' has to have enough space for its component, PLUS space to bring it up to the next module size. This will make the phone HUGE.

The concept of an upgradable device is, however, great. Just not in the manufacturer's interest. Apple lose out if they offer a storage upgrade. Motorola don't sell another phone if they make the screen swappable to the next technology.

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You can clearly see the cost of modularity if you compare my current laptop to my previous one.

My current laptop is a 15" retina MacBook Pro. It isn't upgradable in any real sense of the word.

My previous laptop was a 15" MacBook Pro. I could upgrade the RAM and HDD, and with little difficulty replace the battery.

The upgradable one is 5mm-ish thicker and about 400 grams heavier.

Not a true apples-to-apples comparison, but it does show the bulk added by having end user interchangeable connections on the hardware.

If I recall correctly the standard MacBook Pro also sports a DVD-slot drive, which may attribute to quite a bit of the added weight and size. However I do agree, that modularity will come at the prize of less miniaturization. And with mobile phones this is even more of an issue.

> Not a true apples-to-apples comparison

Definitely agree with you on the space/volume issue, but I don't think most of that weight gain comes from modularity. Because 400 grams is a lot of weight. I think it's probably mostly the hard drive weight.

Hsrd drives do not weight as much, unless you are talking about 3.5" drives, not laptop drives.

> There's absolutely no spare space in a modern phone.

My Treo 700p was >3x the thickness of an iPhone 5S, roughly the same width, 7mm taller (not counting the antenna, which was, by far, the most annoying physical part of the phone), and weighed an extra 68 grams. My manager around the same time used an HTC Windows Phone of not-dissimilar size and weight.

Phones are smaller because they can be, not because they have to be.

What if Motorola so that next storage upgrade or screen? And modern desktops are built to be modular from the start. Why not have a motherboard in form factor of a smart phone device.

Desktops are modular because the high price components used to have. Look at manufacturers now and you'll see a trend towards non-modular designs (iMac, Vaios,…)

This is not a scheme to take your money, BTW. Most of the consumers wont upgrade any part of the PC during their lifetime, so you are being held back in design and build quality by a feature only a fraction os the population demands. By held back I don't just mean design wise, although is one of the main advantages. You have to support legacy ports, slower buses, etc...

By going to non-modular designs, you can make better use of the space. The tradeoffs are big, especially on laptops (increased battery life), and more so in mobile.

While upgradeable is one aspect - another big aspect of the problem is it being fixeable. Due to a variety of reasons, it's not affordable to fix your old phone, you might as well buy a new one. FairPhone is another phone project, which aims to actually make your phone repairable too. I think it'll make a bigger dent in the short to medium term.

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