Big companies can afford to lose money on experiments and projects. Take Apple and Google, for example, with their billions of dollars in cash under stockpile. It’s these firms that can afford to spend billions on so-called “moonshot” projects that may never see commercial application. Some may never even go past the drawing board.

One of Google’s latest moonshots is the modular smartphone, dubbed Project Ara (curiously, after one of the academia-based experts who are contributing to the project). Work on the modular device is done by the Motorola Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group, which was retained by Google after its sale of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo. The project aims to build a modular smartphone, in which users can interchange parts depending on the functionality needed. More importantly, modular parts mean that a user can spend as little or as much money as necessary to build a phone with the features he wants or needs.

With Project Ara, a smart device will cost as little as $50 for a WiFi-enabled device with a touchscreen. Users can include additional modules as the need arises — camera, cellular module, additional batteries. The device will supposedly support hot-swappable modules, so users can swap out parts as needed, and these will be kept locked in place by electromagnetism.