Sennheiser has announced a new partnership with Phonebloks. The startup company Phonebloks, founded by the Dutch designer Dave Hakkens, has developed an idea for a modular smartphone where customers can use individual components to compile a phone specifically to suit their own needs. Sennheiser is one of the initiative’s first supporters and will be contributing its audio expertise. The concept of Phonebloks has been picked up by Google for the newly founded “Project Ara”, and they are just now working on the detailed functionality of the new forward-looking phone.
Dave Hakkens’ idea is both simple and visionary: The Phonebloks founder is planning to create a basic mobile phone that is modular in structure, allowing a variety of add-ons – or bloks. This means that each user will be able to customise their own model and even replace any defective modules if required. Whether it’s the display, the battery or the speaker, any component that needs repair or upgrade can quickly be replaced by anyone without needing any major technical knowledge.
“Every time we discard a gadget, we throw away many valuable components that are still in perfect working order. Phonebloks’ vision is to conserve natural resources and thus ensure sustainable development. Rather than buying a completely new smartphone every two years, all you will need to do with Phonebloks is replace the parts you want to upgrade,” said Dave Hakkens at the company’s first developers’ meeting in Mountain View, California.
Cooperation with Sennheiser
Sennheiser will be supporting this innovative project by contributing its own audio expertise. Sennheiser’s audio technology know-how will be called upon where matters of speech and audio transmission are concerned.
“Sennheiser has the necessary technical excellence and also shares a corporate philosophy that places equal emphasis on sustainability. Its products are distinguished by first-class quality, durability and they also provide options for replacing individual components. This sustainability ethos is an essential part of our company vision,” says Dave Hakkens.
