Google Project Ara set for January 2015 release date

Google's Project Ara modular smartphone is due to go on sale in January 2015, the company has confirmed.

Speaking at its first Project Ara conferenceGoogle said that it is aiming to have the first Ara Endo on sale in January next year. Endo is the name given to the main chassis into which all the phone's modules are fitted.

Project Ara began life at Motorola and was developed out of Dave Hakkens'Phonebloks concept. Based on similar principles to modern PCs, Project Ara allows users to upgrade and customise their smartphones without having to replace the entire unit.

Individual modules containing the battery, storage, camera, GPS, processor and memory - or anything else you might want from a smartphone - are connected and disconnected to the central chassis.

When Google bought Motorola Mobility it was feared that Project Ara might be cancelled. However the company has pledged to press ahead with the phone, even after selling the rest of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo earlier this year.

Previous rumours had suggested the first Project Ara hardware would hit the market in early 2015 and Google has now confirmed its plans.

The Ara Endo will cost just $50, although Google has not yet confirmed pricing for the essential extra modules. The initial launch is likely to be US only, with no date yet set for an international release.