The idea for a modular smartphone, where individual hardware components like cameras, speakers and battery packs can be easily swapped out to customize your device, was too intriguing to languish in limbo. But Ara will languish no more, as the tech giant gave the project some much needed attention at its I/O conference last week. We now know a lot more about how the system works, how it fits into the current landscape of modular phones and why we should be (at least cautiously) excited about it.

As consumers, we're already used to customizing our phones, whether it's downloading apps according to our lifestyle, or picking out cases based on our sense of style (or tendency to drop the phone). The concept of modular smartphones takes that several steps further, allowing us to essentially build our own phone, picking and choosing the hardware pieces we want. Are you constantly snapping and Instagramming photos? Slide in a higher resolution camera.