The Essential Phone is sold out on the official Essential site and in most retail outlets, with no more restocks planned for the polarizing device.
The smartphone, also named the Essential PH-1, was hyped up before its release a year ago because Andy Rubin, the founder of Essential, is also the creator of the Android mobile operating system. The Essential Phone was priced at $700 upon launch, entering a field populated by Apple’s iPhone X, Google’s Pixel 2 XL, and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8. The sticker price was later scaled down to $500, which made the Essential Phone more appealing to customers.
The Essential Phone went out of stock over the holiday season, partly due to significant price cuts that indicated retailers were cleaning out the device’s inventory. It appears that this marks the end of the device, so, unfortunately, customers who were planning to buy the Essential PH-1 after the holidays will likely find it very hard to do so.
“We are sold out of Essential Phone on essential.com and won’t include any new inventory. We are currently working hardly on our next mobile product and will continue to sell accessories and provide speedy software updates and customer support to our existing community,” said a spokesman for the company.
Current Essential Phone users will be happy to know that despite the phone’s discontinuation, Essential reiterated that updates for it will proceed. Essential previously promised that the Essential PH-1 will be redesigned at upgraded at least to Android Q.
Another positive note from the spokesman’s statement is the confirmation that Essential is working on its next product. It was previously reported that the device will be an artificial intelligence-powered smartphone that performs tasks by mimicking its user, such as automatically replying to messages.
The new smartphone is said to have a a unique design, with a little screen since users will interact with it for the most part through voice commands. It will certainly be an different device compared to the competition, and there are bits of gossip that Essential will be ready to show off the smartphone at CES 2019 in January.
Basic can take off real Android updates for the Essential Phone quicker than other non-Google Android smartphone manufacturers, and it is expected that the company will do likewise for the rumored new smartphone.
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