Essential Products (marketed as Essential) was an American

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

company and manufacturer founded on November 9, 2015, by Andy Rubin and based in

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

. The company developed, manufactured, and sold Essential Phone and accessories for it, including 360 Camera for Essential Phone. The company closed on February 12, 2020, stating that it was developing a new handset, but that there was "no clear path to deliver it to customers".

History

2008 Google Developer Day in Japan - Andy Rubin

The company was established in

on November 9, 2015, by Android co-founder Andy Rubin, with funding from Playground Global. In December 2016, Brian Wallace, who left his occupation as

chief marketing officer A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a chief brand officer (CBO), is a C-suite corporate executive responsible for managing marketing activities in an organization. The CMO leads brand management, marketing communications (including adver ...

for

Magic Leap Magic Leap, Inc. is an American technology company that released a head-mounted augmented reality display, called ''Magic Leap One'', which superimposes 3D computer-generated imagery over real world objects. It is attempting to construct a lig ...

a month prior, was reportedly working with Rubin. Trademarks with the 'Essential' brand name were also filed with the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency in the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark ...

that same month. In January 2017, it was reported that the new company was planning to unofficially reveal a smartphone. In March, Rubin released an image that teased the unannounced smartphone on his

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account. On May 25, the company teased a second image of the smartphone on its Twitter account. On May 30, the company announced both the smartphone, dubbed the Essential Phone, and its

smart speaker A smart speaker is a type of loudspeaker and voice command device with an integrated virtual assistant (artificial intelligence), virtual assistant that offers interactive actions and Hands-free computing, hands-free activation with the help of o ...

, Essential Home. In August 2017, it was reported that

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...

and

Foxconn Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (), Trade name, doing business as Hon Hai Technology Group () in Taiwan, Foxconn Technology Group () in China, and Foxconn () internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational corporation, multinational electron ...

have invested in Essential Products. In August 2017, the company was valued as a

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unico ...

. On May 25, 2018, the company cancelled its next flagship and was reported to be for sale. In December 2018, Essential acquired CloudMagic, owner of the mobile email app Newton. In October 2019, Essential teased an upcoming replacement for the PH-1 called the 'Gem'. This device would have a much more slender form factor than its predecessor, would rely mostly on voice control, and would utilize advanced AI for processing the voice control input. But, the new product never hit the market, as on February 12, 2020, the company announced that it was ceasing operations because there was "no clear way to deliver Gem'to customers". On February 17, 2021, the brand was bought by Carl Pei's

Nothing Nothing, no-thing, or no thing is the complete absence of ''anything'', as the opposite of ''something'' and an antithesis of everything. The concept of nothing has been a matter of philosophical debate since at least the 5th century BCE. Ea ...

Start up.

Products

Essential Phone

The Essential Phone is a phone introduced in 2017. The device is upgradable to Android 10, and was only sold in the United States and Canada. The device will not receive any software updates, including security patches, after February 3, 2020, due to the company going out of business.

Newton Mail

In early 2019 Essential Products acquired CloudMagic, Inc., developers of the Newton Mail app, which shut down in September 2018. Newton Mail restored services shortly after being acquired. Newton shut down on April 30, 2020.

Undelivered Products

Project GEM was a prototype of a second phone developed by Essential Products Inc. It was announced in a company blog post on October 9, 2019 and cancelled three months later, on February 12, 2020, in coincidence with the shutdown of Essential. Essential Home was a planned

and smart home hub running an Essential-designed

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

, named "Ambient OS". The device launch was planned for late 2017, however it never arrived on the market.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web, last1=Gurman, first1=Mark, last2=Bergen, first2=Mark, title=Andy Rubin Nears His Comeback, Complete With an 'Essential' Phone, url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-13/andy-rubin-nears-his-comeback-complete-with-an-essential-phone, website=Bloomberg.com, access-date=May 30, 2017, archive-url=https://archive.today/20170113215730/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-13/andy-rubin-nears-his-comeback-complete-with-an-essential-phone, archive-date=January 13, 2017, language=en, date=January 13, 2017, url-status=live {{cite web, title=Results Detail, url=https://businessfilings.sos.ca.gov/frmDetail.asp?CorpID=03841770, website=businessfilings.sos.ca.gov, access-date=May 30, 2017, archive-url=https://archive.today/20170530162256/https://businessfilings.sos.ca.gov/frmDetail.asp?CorpID=03841770, archive-date=May 30, 2017, language=en, date=February 11, 2016, url-status=live {{cite web, last1=Patel, first1=Nilay, title=This is the new Ambient OS, Essential's big bet to control your home, url=https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/5/30/15711162/ambient-os-essential-home-andy-rubin, website=The Verge, access-date=May 30, 2017, archive-url=https://archive.today/20170530125739/https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/5/30/15711162/ambient-os-essential-home-andy-rubin, archive-date=May 30, 2017, language=en, date=May 30, 2017, url-status=live {{Cite web, url=https://www.essential.com/about, title=Essential {{! About Us, website=Essential, access-date=May 30, 2017, language=en, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531042356/https://www.essential.com/about, archive-date=May 31, 2017 {{Cite web, url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCjjnVNXDLI, title=Andy Rubin, creator of Android, debuts his new Essential Phone | Code 2017, work=

Recode ''Recode'' (stylized as recode; formerly ''Re/code'') was a technology news website that focused on the business of Silicon Valley. Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher founded it in January 2014, after they left Dow Jones and the similar website ...

, others=Hosted by Walt Mossberg, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531124742/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCjjnVNXDLI, archive-date=May 31, 2017 {{cite web, last1=Balakrishnan, first1=Anita, title=Essential phone: Interview with Niccolo De Masi, url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/30/essential-phone-interview-with-niccolo-de-masi.html, work=CNBC, access-date=July 21, 2017, archive-url=https://archive.today/20170721163942/http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/30/essential-phone-interview-with-niccolo-de-masi.html, archive-date=July 21, 2017, url-status=live, language=en, date=May 30, 2017 2015 establishments in California 2020 disestablishments in California American companies established in 2015 American companies disestablished in 2020 Andy Rubin Companies based in Palo Alto, California Computer companies established in 2015 Computer companies disestablished in 2020 Defunct computer companies based in California Defunct computer hardware companies Mobile phone manufacturers Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area