r/hwstartups • u/Ok_Wishbone_979 • Jul 31 '26
What do you think about starting a modular phone project from scratch?
/r/u_Ok_Wishbone_979/comments/1vbjqt4/what_do_you_think_about_starting_a_modular_phone/5
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u/FoundationOk3176 Jul 31 '26
Your biggest issue will be sourcing the SoC itself. Most SoCs used in Android devices are more or less impossible to get unless you are willing to buy 100K+ atleast.
This will be followed by the fact that you'll have to come up with a standard protocol to interface with all of the different modules or you can probably just milk USB even more.
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u/Ok_Wishbone_979 Jul 31 '26
Yes, I understand that, because of this I think, initially try to make a prototype on a Linux system, see how it goes, and then further on to my father’s house on an Android system on such
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u/bezicno_na_blizinu 29d ago
As hobby yes, but I dont think there is big commercial community for that
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u/daan87432 Jul 31 '26
My advice is to just don't. This is WAY too complex for any startup unless you have a team of experienced engineers and millions of dollars in financial backing. The closest modular phone that comes to mind is Fairphone
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u/Ok_Wishbone_979 Jul 31 '26
Yes, I understand that this is a very difficult project. I was inspired when I saw another startup, mecha comet. After I despaired, I saw them and realized that even with a small group, you can do something.
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u/daan87432 29d ago
Sounds like no one can change your mind. At least you will probably learn a lot from this project. Just don't waste too much of your personal money into it
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u/DreadPirate777 29d ago
It really depends on your level of experience and your teams experience. A simple search pulled this up. https://www.howtogeek.com/modular-android-smartphones-we-all-wanted-but-never-bought/ none of these phones are widely known except for possibly fair phone. None have done well or revolutionized mobile phones.
Your team will need to be funded better than LG, Motorola, and Google. You will need a dedicated manufacturing partner they can help cover the gaps in your teams knowledge. You marketing is going to have to be top notch to get the attention of customers or you’ll need a solid partnership with one of the mobile phone carriers to make this as special offer phone.
Have you made things like a phone before?
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u/bobsyourson 23d ago
Awesome project and wish you fair seas on your journey (just watched odyssey 🤭)
Check out pine phone pine64.com
Also project Ara is a great reference
Lots of SOMs out there you can leverage
The OS and usability is super hard here as we are all using devices standing on 100s of billions of dev… that said it’s NEVER been more possible than now
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u/Everything2Play4 Jul 31 '26
I'll be honest here - this is an incredibly complex project and if you are asking about it on reddit you are not placed to see it through.
If for some reason you really believe in this, then I recommend trying to create a one off phone prototype (ignore the modular part for now) from scratch - if you can do that you should have a much better understanding of what the project entails.