Essential lays off 30 percent of its workforce

[maflynn]

Looks like Essential is circling the drain. I had a friend who had the phone and it was nothing but trouble. She would not get texts and it was so frustrating. She finally just gave up on it and got another.

Essential lays off 30 percent of its workforce

The company, which was launched by Android creator Andy Rubin in 2015, canceled the Essential Phone 2 earlier this year following low sales of the first device, and it was said to be seeking a buyer. It has also halted work on the Essential Home smart speaker, which was announced last year.

 

[jamezr]

Some of us have been saying this for quite some time now....

 

[Tsepz]

It felt as though they were trying to reinvent the wheel, and with the influx of the powerful Chinese OEMs like OnePlus, who sell high-end phones at much lower prices with more features and better build quality, I think the writing has long been on the wall for them.

Had the Essential PH-1 come in 2-3 years earlier, it may have made it - even then, doubt it would have seen much success.

 

[ramram55]

It felt as though they were trying to reinvent the wheel, and with the influx of the powerful Chinese OEMs like OnePlus, who sell high-end phones at much lower prices with more features and better build quality, I think the writing has long been on the wall for them.

Had the Essential PH-1 come in 2-3 years earlier, it may have made it - even then, doubt it would have seen much success.

Good point, if a company does not get quality product out doomed to failure, look at the auto industry in US, Asian manufacturers hold the fort right now, same theory with those cellphone flag ships, high price and so so products.
Tsepz, would you be testing new OP6T ? just curious.

 

[maflynn]

t felt as though they were trying to reinvent the wheel

I think they could have. Given his pedigree, people thought he was going to roll out an industry leading design/featured phone. That didn't occur and what did occur was an embarrassment in terms of the level of bugs and issues.

 

[ActionableMango]

The company is now pinning its future on a different phone with a small screen that will try to mimic the user and automatically respond to messages on their behalf.​

Sure, that'll save the company.

 

[tbayrgs]

Looks like Essential is circling the drain. I had a friend who had the phone and it was nothing but trouble. She would not get texts and it was so frustrating. She finally just gave up on it and got another.

Essential lays off 30 percent of its workforce

My immediate thought after seeing the post...

Only 30%?

 

[5105973]

Meanwhile over at Red Hydrogen One...

Seriously where is that phone? I saw pictures from it and they were awful. Just as bad as the initial Essential camera photos. But everyone commenting said it was because whoever took the pictures did not know how to handle such a professional phone camera.

It’s sad to see so much promise hit the wall and fail to stick. The Essential, at least, was a beautiful phone. I thought it could evolve over time into a really competitive phone. I guess that’s harder to do than it looks.

 

[raqball]

Looks like Essential is circling the drain. I had a friend who had the phone and it was nothing but trouble. She would not get texts and it was so frustrating. She finally just gave up on it and got another.

Essential lays off 30 percent of its workforce

I had it when it 1st came out and was super excited for it....... Loved the build and design but the phone was a massive fail software wise and the camera was absolute garbage!

It was sold at a loss... I expected Rubin to put out something stellar and well, he and it flopped!