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R.I.P. Essential

February 12, 2020.

Essential PH–1.

Essential PH–1. © Essential Products.

Three years after launching its first (and last) smartphone, Essential, the company founded by Andy Rubin, “the father of Android”, announced it was closing down. The company had been valuated at USD1.2 billion before it had sold a single product, but its first phone received a lukewarm welcome and was not successful. Then, the follow-up model got cancelled. In May 2018, the company was put up for sale, but found no buyer. In October 2018, it had to lay off 30% of its staff. Newton Mail, the application that Essential bought at the end of 2018, will be also shut down.

Ars Technica, Ron Amadeo, “Andy Rubin’s smartphone startup, Essential, is dead.”