Essential Products, the manufacturer of the impressive Essential PH-1 smartphone, is back in the headlines after announcing a new smartphone to the guys at XDA. The Essential PH-1 that was announced in August 2017 is no longer available for purchase in the market. Now that the company has confirmed that its next product is in early stages of testing, it may launch a new smartphone in the next few months.
According to the Essential spokesperson, “the Essential team is working on a new product, which is currently in the early stages of testing”. The statement came after XDA conducted an independent investigation by gathering evidence hinting at the new device. The smartphone was spotted testing with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 SoC. It is running on the July build of Android Q, with an open source alternative to Google Play Services.
It is possible that the hardware is currently being used only for testing purposes and the production variant might feature an entirely different powerhouse. In a post last year, Bloomberg claimed that the next smartphone from Essential would be ‘AI-powered’. The device was rumored to be able to answer messages automatically. It was expected to feature a smaller display while most interactions would be over voice commands. Essential has neither confirmed nor denied those rumors as of now.
The company has created quite a benchmark for themselves with the Essential PH-1. In the past two years the PH-1 has received monthly security patches and every major OS upgrade on the same day that Google released them. Essential drew heavy criticism for the high price tag and the weak camera setup on the PH-1. The device launched at $699 and even the $200 price reduction later on did not help pickup sales.
The Essential PH-1 is a unique smartphone, built with premium materials like ceramic and titanium. Two materials that no other mass-produced smartphone manufacturer bothers using. The device offered virtually near-stock Android experience devoid of bloatware and is among the handful of devices currently running on Android 10. Rumors of the second-generation PH-2 was quashed in December 2018 when Essential confirmed plans to shelve the device due to disappointing sales figures.
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