Google to launch its first modular smartphone in Puerto Rico, letting users choose hardware

Google says it will unveil a modular smartphone in Puerto Rico this year as part of a pilot program that will allow people to choose their own hardware.

The company said Wednesday that it will partner with Mexico-based carrier Claro and local carrier Open Mobile.

Google marketing executive Jessica Beavers said Puerto Rico was chosen in part because more than 90 percent of households on the island of nearly 3.7 million people use a cellphone and 77 percent of Internet access occurs through mobile devices.

Google would manufacture and sell the phone frame as well as modules created by individual manufacturers that can be added to it like Legos. Modules would range from a screen to a camera to speakers to even a pedometer, depending on people's needs.