Facebook Secretly Building A Smartphone That Could Disrupt The Smartphone Industry?

Facebook is rumored to pick up where Google left off with the search engine giant’s Ara Project in creating a smartphone of their own inside the hidden Building 8. Facebook is a company with the huge amount of following in the social media field. The social media giant is venturing off into the hardware world, yet again. As a matter of fact, it has already invested $2 billion USD in the Oculus Rift VR project, a big acquisition that is far less formidable than the rumors surrounding its Building 8 activities.

In April of this year, Mark Zuckerberg announced a new Facebook group called Building 8 which, according to the blog post, is focused on building new hardware in pushing on their mission of “connecting the world” which is led by Regina Dugan, former Google Advanced Technology and Projects manager and DARPA director.

Then, CNet made an analysis of almost 50 job postings on Facebook, examined profiles, and concluded that the building is not just a laboratory that spins out startup companies. Rather, CNet revealed that Facebook is hiring more than a dozen heads of what seems to be a few specific departments within the secretive Building 8 including industrial design, electrical and mechanical engineering, applications, services, supply chain, manufacturing, customer service, and device software. CNet further concludes that Facebook seems to be putting together a team that will conceptualize, design, manufacture, distribute, and even serve customers.

The LinkedIn profiles of the recent Facebook hires cited in this report demonstrates that Facebook is likely pursuing hardware bigger than what is anticipated. The list includes high-level executives with experiences in the supply chain for big tech companies like Tesla, a former Apple employee with various expertise, lead developers of Google’s Ara smartphone, and former designer of Motorola, to name a few.

Facebook’s new Building 8 group has been joined by the big names of the tech industry: Google, Tesla, Motorola, Microsoft, Amazon, and even Apple. But, will the smartphone hit it off with consumers? Considering the recent flops of Facebook’s hardware pursuits, only time will tell whether Facebook will, indeed, disrupt the smartphone industry with its another attempt at creating a smartphone.