We've seen the likes of LG and Motorola take a crack at it, but Google's Project Ara was meant to be the fully fledged realisation of modular smartphone design. In May this year, the division of Google detailed its efforts in a very impressive video, and certainly hyped their take on modular phones, but now reports suggest the company is placing Project Ara on hold for the time being.

According to sources at Reuters, Project Ara has been suspended as Google aims to unify its hardware plans under recently re-appointed head Rich Osterloh. As such, it seems that Google's Nexus range (soon-to-be renamed) will be the company's primary focus in terms of mobile devices.

The news is particularly surprising as Google were planning a developer edition of Project Ara for release, and aimed to get partners onboard to handle the camera, battery and display components of the Project Ara phone. That might still be in the works, to some degree, as The Verge is told that Google may license Project Ara to other manufacturers.

While Project Ara was an ambitious venture, it was nonetheless exciting. Let's hope this isn't the last we've heard of it.