Essential is working on a “new mobile device”
After facing several problems along the way, Essential has confirmed with The Verge that their lone 2017 flagship—the Essential Phone PH-1—is officially discontinued.
We are sold out of Essential Phone on essential.com and won’t be adding any new inventory. We are now hard at work on our next mobile product and will continue to sell accessories and provide speedy software updates and customer support to our existing community.
While Essential will no longer sell the phone itself, the struggling company will stay committed to providing software updates for the phone, along with selling some of its accessories. The official statement mentions a new mobile product, but don’t expect it to be the successor to the Essential Phone PH-1.
Instead, rumors about this upcoming device point to a tiny AI-powered, voice assistant-enabled phone that aims to give users a break from using their smartphones (think of it as something like Palm’s latest product). The device aims to work like Google’s Duplex, where an AI will do things on your behalf. Essential founder Andy Rubin describes the device as one where “you can be off enjoying your life, having that dinner, without touching your phone, and you can trust your phone to do things on your behalf.”
There’s little information yet on this new device, but if Essential is serious in making a comeback, they should introduce one that is innovative and groundbreaking enough for its customers both old and new.
