Essential Phone now out of stock...permanently

Essential is currently listing the PH-1 Essential Phone as out of stock in its online store and has all but confirmed the discontinuation of this device. After Droid Life noticed the gradual disappearance of the smartphone from major online retailers, the folks at 9to5Google decided to contact Essential to find out exactly what was going on. This is the reply sent by a spokesperson for the company:

We are sold out of Essential Phone on essential.com and won’t be adding any new inventory. We are now hard at work on our next mobile product and will continue to sell accessories and provide speedy software updates and customer support to our existing community.

So that seems to be that for the Essential Phone PH-1. It was a worthy addition to the smartphone world that even helped spur the polarizing notch trend. Current owners of the device need not be too concerned about the future in regard to software updates, as the statement shows Essential plans to continue offering support.

However, one part of the reply has sparked some speculation about what the future holds for Essential. The comment “hard at work on our next mobile product” means that the company hasn’t quite given up the ghost just yet. It’s unlikely this is a reference to a direct successor to the Essential Phone, though. It's more likely to be about the rumored AI-driven device that Notebookcheck previously reported on.

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