Google has delayed its plans to trial its modular smartphone concept, codenamed Project Ara.

The first Project Ara hardware was due to be trialled in Puerto Rico this year, but has been pushed back to at least 2016. The trial will take place in a new location in the US, the Project Ara team said via a series of tweets. The team blamed "lots of iterations" in the design, which was first shown off in 2013, for the delay. Project Ara is Google's intriguing attempt at creating a smartphone that comes in bits, which means that certain components can be added or taken away without the need for intricate alterations to the phone.

This would also potentially mean that smashed screens or worn batteries would be less costly to replace - as well as allowing others to create bespoke hardware for specific tasks. Google had planned to offer around 20 to 30 different modules for the Puerto Rico trial.

(BBC)