MANILA, Philippines – Cyber sleuths recently uncovered a patent application by Facebook that sowed its fair share of intrigue from the tech community: a device that could be a smartphone. (READ: High-tech mystery: Is a Facebook phone in the works?)

The patent application, filed in January 2017, shows illustrations of the said device, as seen above and below:

The device doesn’t look like any modern phone today. Compared to today’s phones, it’s chunky and boxy like the portable Nintendo Game Boy released in 1989. The documents, however, may very well be talking about a phone, saying that the “modular, electromechanical device” could have speakers, cameras, microphones, touchscreens, and displays as seen in the above illustrations. 

Like Google’s cancelled modular phone, Project Ara, the Facebook filing features interchangeable modules that offer different functions. The filing says, “A user can change the functionality of the modular electromechanical device based upon the different functional modules that are connected.” 

Adding intrigue: Facebook’s hardware team, Building 8, is led by Regina Dugan, the former head of the tech group within Google developing the canned Project Ara. 

Facebook executives, after the company’s impressive second quarter 2017 earnings report, have warned that space for ads on the platform may be nearing its limit. And to grow, the company will have to peek into other wells.

At the moment, the social network already has investments in AI, VR, videos, and internet-beaming solar-powered planes. Investing in and developing a new phone isn’t unlikely, given the company’s massive cash reserves reported at its latest earnings call ($35.5B). Also, Software giants delving into the phone-making business isn’t unprecedented (Google, Microsoft).

Philosophically, developing a smartphone would tie in with Mark Zuckerberg’s current mantra of Facebook as a way to bring people closer as the smartphone remains modern society’s most pervasive communication tool. 

But just because it could, should it? Will a Facebook-made phone appeal to you? What features would you want a Facebook phone to have? What can it do to fare better than Google and Microsoft’s past effort? Post your comments below or on our Facebook page, or email us at technology@rappler.com.

To read the full description of the illustrations above and the entire patent application, proceed to the US patent office website here. – Rappler.com