We're now right around one year out from the debut of the Essential Phone, and some may be wondering when we'll see the Essential Phone 2. According to a new report, though, that device won't be happening.
Essential has canceled development of the Essential Phone 2 and is shopping itself to potential buyers. That's according to a report from Bloomberg, which adds that Essential has moved engineers onto a smart home product that's due to be released next year.
It's said that Essential has considered hiring a manufacturing company to develop a device with the Essential brand, but there are no details on that effort.
Today's report also says that Essential is working on selling itself and that it's gotten some interest from Foxconn, the company that helped manufacture the first Essential Phone. A sale would likely include the entirety of Essential, including its patents, hardware like the Essential Phone and the upcoming smart home device, as well as Essential's engineering team.
The Essential Phone launched in August 2017 and was available unlocked from Essential and from Sprint, which gave the device a strong marketing push. Despite those efforts, it's said that the Essential Phone has only sold 150,000 units to date.
In the lead up to its launch last year, the Essential Phone had a lot of hype because it was made by Andy Rubin and had slim bezels. The device was the target of some criticism when it first went on sale due to its $699 price tag and its camera performance, but Essential worked to address those complaints by dropping the price and pushing out updates to make its camera better.
It's difficult to launch a brand new smartphone company, especially without broad U.S. carrier support, and now it looks like another competitor may be exiting the market. If you were waiting for an Essential Phone 2, you may want to begin considering other devices.