Earlier today, something peculiar happened. On Essential's website and other stores that typically sell the Essential Phone, the device was showing up as "sold out." We weren't sure what was going on, but now Essential has responded and confirmed out fears — the Essential Phone is being discontinued.
In other words, it's dead.
In a statement sent to 9to5Google, a spokesperson for Essential said the following:
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.
What is that "next mobile product" mentioned there? Last we heard, Essential was focusing on some sort of phone that's primarily used via voice commands and would be similar to the Palm Phone in the sense that it's to be used as a companion device to your main smartphone.
It was last reported that we'd see that phone as early as CES 2019, so maybe we'll finally get a glimpse at Essential's latest and greatest in just a few short days.
As for current Essential Phone owners, it's encouraging to hear that software updates will remain speedy. Essential's been one of the best OEMs in the industry in these regards, so there's no reason not to believe them there.
It's a sad day knowing that the Essential Phone is finally on its way out the door, but then again, it's something that doesn't really come as a surprise at all. Countless sales have been run over the last few months to drastically lower its price, it's well over a year old having first come out in August 2017, and its successor was canceled back in May.
What are you hoping to see next from Essential?
