Last year, Essential laid off 30% of its workers. Some key executives also left, leading to the rumor that the company was probably going to shut down. Now, the company is planning to increase its workforce and has listed 21 vacancies. Some of these positions hint at what Essential might be planning for the future.
Part of the positions are for interns and are contract based but some are for full-time employees. Some of these full-time jobs hint at Essential developing its imaging technology. There are vacancies for a camera hardware engineer, a computational imaging lead, a computer vision software engineer, and an image quality engineer.
The Essential PH-1 wasn’t a great camera phone when it launched and although Essential tried to improve the camera performance via software updates, it still couldn’t measure up to other flagships released the same year. These positions might be an indication that it’s working on getting things right for its future releases.
Essential is also recruiting for software engineers that will handle projects such as building the backend for powering Essential’s online services and building new apps. There are also vacancies for supervisors that will oversee mass production and launch of new products. Based on all these, one can conclude that Essential is still very much in the phone business and is working on new products.
READ MORE: Essential is reportedly working on an AI phone that automatically responds to messages
Essential last product was the Audio Adapter HD released last year. It is a mod for the PH-1 that attaches to the back of the phone. It has a hi-res DAC and a 3.5mm audio jack. A few months ago, there was a report the company was working on a new mobile product and earlier this month, patents of what is believed to be the Essential PH-2 surfaced online.
(Via)
