It's no secret at this point that the Essential Phone has had a rough life. Relentless software updates and a dramatic price cut have resulted in the device finally being at least worthy of your consideration, but its blundering launch appears to have hurt Essential where it counts.
IDC Research Director Francisco Jeronimo recently announced on Twitter that the Essential shipped just 88,000 units of the Essential Phone in 2017 following the device's launch in July of last year. We weren't really expecting the Essential Phone to sell like hotcakes, but that's still a pretty low number.
In late September, it was reported that just 5,000 units of the Essential Phone had been sold. That was prior to the $499 price cut, so it seems pretty clear as to what was holding most buyers back in the Essential Phone's early days.
Where does Essential go from here?
Now that we have more current data, it'll be interesting to see how the Essential Phone 2 is handled. Essential has already confirmed that it's in the works, but with the majority of customers holding off on the Essential Phone until it was sold for $499 and under, will Essential focus on releasing a phone that's focused more on the mid-range market as opposed to the high-end for its second time around?
The company will be faced with competition no matter what segment it chooses to target, but a high-quality mid-ranger may be what Essential needs before it's ready to fully take on the Pixel and Galaxy phones of the world. Whether or not you bought an Essential Phone, is this latest number at all surprising to you? What would you like to see in the Essential Phone 2? Sound off in the comments below.
