It's time to pour one out for the Essential Phone.
The Essential Phone is now discontinued. Essential confirmed today that it has run out of stock of the device on its web store and won't be adding any more inventory. The phone is largely gone from other retailers, too, with Amazon only offering third-party sales of the device and Best Buy listing the unlocked model as "no longer available".
Essential went on to confirm that it will continue to provide software updates to its existing users, adding that it's also now working on its "next mobile product". Here's the company's full statement to Android Police:
"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."
The Essential Phone originally launched back in August 2017 at a price of $699, but it ended up getting a couple of price cuts post-launch, and eventually you could score it for below $300 during some sales. While it didn't exactly take the world by storm, the Essential Phone does have fans, and it's getting some of the fastest updates of any Android devices around. For example, it received Android Pie on the same day as Google's own Pixel phones.
Looking ahead, rumors have suggested that Essential is working on a new phone with a major focus on AI. The device reportedly uses AI to reply to incoming emails and messages for you and also book appointments on its own. It's also said that the phone has a small screen to encourage more voice interaction. Reports have said that Essential is working to have a prototype of the device to show off to industry partners at CES 2019 in January.
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