Essential Phone 2 cancelled; Company up for sale

Essential, Andy Rubin's brainchild is reportedly calling it quits. According to Bloomberg, the company has canceled its second phone and putting itself on sale. The founder has hired a third-party firm to advise it on a potential sale, with one suitor allegedly showing interest.

Essential Phone or the PH-1 was company's first smartphone. It focused on physical beauty and was able to achieve a deep notch. Despite its problems, the device gained a small but loyal following. Many of the fanatics were anticipating the PH-2 this year, but that dream seems to be crushed now.

Bloomberg's report claims that the engineers, some of whom worked with Apple and Google will likely be a part of the sale, but the company is yet to make a decision. The report also suggests that Essential is shifting to the smart home area, citing that the company "has shifted engineers and other resources to an upcoming smart-home product, which is on track for release by next year."

An official Essential spokesperson told AndroidHeadlines,"We always have multiple products in development at the same time and we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits. We are putting all of our efforts towards our future, game-changing products, which include mobile and home products."

Now, The Information has also acquired an internal email where Andy Rubin says that the company is not shutting its doors. Instead, it is "working with bankers to raise money." He also says that they will "focus on winning, not whining."

Sadly you won't see the next iteration of the Essential Phone as of now. Rubin isn't sure what the best choice for the company would be, but as of now, the company might not be shut.

We could see something in the future though. The company was awarded a new patent recently. The patent shows a pop-up camera with depict diagrams and how the phone will shape up. The documents also describe how the new camera design will operate. The concept looks similar to what Vivo showcased at the MWC 2018 dubbed as the Apex.

Interestingly. the pop-up camera isn't the only common thing between the two. Essential's patent also shows a near bezel-less display with a notch on top of the screen. The patent is labeled as a method to maximize the screen size by removing the front camera from the panel and place it within the unit which extends out from the inside.

We hope to see the company back in business and bring something new to the table with some disruptive technology and design.