Android-powered Essential Phone estimated to have shipped just 88K units in 2017

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in iPhone
Despite being one of the first handsets on the market with an edge-to-edge display, the Essential Phone, pioneered by former Android chief Andy Rubin, failed to compete with the likes of Apple's iPhone X in any meaningful way, with one new estimate suggesting just 88,000 units were shipped last year.




The low sales estimate for Essential was shared this week by IDC Research Director Francisco Jeronimo, who noted that the company "is still a long way from becoming a successful venture." Shipments of the Essential Phone began in July 2017, months before Apple's iPhone X was even announced.

First unveiled last May, the Essential Phone is an Android-based handset with a titanium body, ceramic back, and a 5.71-inch 2,560-by-1,312-pixel display. It runs on an eight-core Snapdragon 835 processor with 4 gigabytes of RAM and 128 gigabytes of storage.




The edge-to-edge display on the front of the Essential Phone features a small cutout at the center to accommodate a forward facing camera. It is significantly smaller than the so-called "notch" on the front of the iPhone X, which features a more complex array of sensors for Face ID.

Despite hype for the company's debut, Essential had a tough start in 2016. Following the launch of its phone, Rubin took a leave of absence in November after allegations of an "inappropriate relationship" from his time at Google surfaced. Reports suggested that Rubin had a relationship with a subordinate in the Android division, violating Google policy.

As for the Essential Phone, the apparent struggles at launch show how difficult it is to break into a market dominated by two key players in Apple and Samsung. As of the end of 2017, IDC estimates that Apple accounted for 19.2 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, followed by Samsung with 18.4 percent, combining for more than 150 million units shipped.
watto_cobra
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    The premium smartphone market has coalesced into two major camps, Apple and Samsung. The rest are outliers. The Essential is likely a very good, maybe even superior phone, but did you see an advertisement on TV or online... anywhere? Trolls often carp about Apple’s marketing prowess but you can’t sell your product if no one knows about it. Wozniak built a fantastic machine but it took Jobs’ natural marketing genius to sell it. That symbiosis was the lightening bolt that created Apple. 
    ronnrandominternetpersonjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 21
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Analysts: Essential still a success. >100% growth unlike the near flat growth of the beleaguered iPhone. 

    Another iphone killer bites the dust. 
    tmayronnfastasleeptdknoxchiajony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 21
    Maybe that's why he's selling his mansion in the Bay Area for $35 million...
    SpamSandwichwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 21
    The Essential smartphone was seen as a success while the iPhone X was considered a failure. I think it depends on the smartphone industry's point of view. The entire smartphone industry is basically biased against Apple's iPhone so it doesn't come as any surprise to me that the iPhone X was labeled as a failed product. If critics are going to go ballistic over some minor notch, well then Apple really is doomed. Again, Wall Street is only interested in growth statistics and the Essential smartphone had huge growth. The iPhone might have only gained 1% or 2% year over year and that's not exciting enough for Wall Street no matter how many total iPhones are being sold. For Wall Street, low growth means failure, so Apple remains doomed. I know there's no way Apple can gain significant market share from Android smartphones. How can Apple possibly steal market share from smartphones costing $50 to $100 in third-world nations? Even winning is losing when profitibility no longer matters to manufacturers.
    ronnlolliverchiajony0
  • Reply 5 of 21
    Is this phone OLED?
  • Reply 6 of 21
    #Exclusivity

    ……LOL
  • Reply 7 of 21
    Here's a demo of the personal assistant on the AndyAndy phone:


  • Reply 8 of 21
    thttht Posts: 5,421member
    A small company has very little chance in the phone market. In the USA, it’s basically gated by the carriers. If the phone isn’t available in carrier retail stores, and, without the OEM paying the carriers in some way to actually sell the phone even when it is in retail stores, it’s basically impossible. 

    It’s almost impossible for universally known brands like Facebook and Google, with huge brand cachet and well funded advertising, let alone a startup who has none of that. 

    Might have had better success in Europe. Asia might be possible, but that’s very much a crapshoot. 
  • Reply 9 of 21
    BluntBlunt Posts: 224member
    This phone was basically a flawed piece of shit there were so many complains about the software it's not even funny.
    lollivermacky the mackywatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 21
    I want to know how many of the MOTO phones are sold.  They advertise heavily, but I've never seen one in real life (and the proposition that people want to bolt clunky, expensive accessories onto their phone seems completely out of touch with reality).  I can't understand how it stays on the market and justifies the continued ad buys.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 21
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    The Essential smartphone was seen as a success while the iPhone X was considered a failure. 
    Huh? 
  • Reply 12 of 21
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    I want to know how many of the MOTO phones are sold.  They advertise heavily, but I've never seen one in real life (and the proposition that people want to bolt clunky, expensive accessories onto their phone seems completely out of touch with reality).  I can't understand how it stays on the market and justifies the continued ad buys.
    Would you recognize one if from a glance? I wouldn't.
  • Reply 13 of 21
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    wow...88,000 Google employees actually bought it. Congrats on the biggest flop since Microsoft Zune
    lollivermacky the macky
  • Reply 14 of 21
    matrix077 said:
    Is this phone OLED?
    It’s DEAD.
  • Reply 15 of 21
    Again, Wall Street is only interested in growth statistics and the Essential smartphone had huge growth. The iPhone might have only gained 1% or 2% year over year and that's not exciting enough for Wall Street no matter how many total iPhones are being sold. For Wall Street, low growth means failure, so Apple remains doomed. 
    Yet Apple continues to pour billions of dollars into their accounts each and every quarter.

    There are more metrics than "growth", and no company can grow significantly year over year over year. 

  • Reply 16 of 21
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    fallenjt said:
    wow...88,000 Google employees actually bought it. Congrats on the biggest flop since Microsoft Zune
    It's not a Google product.
  • Reply 17 of 21
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    gatorguy said:
    fallenjt said:
    wow...88,000 Google employees actually bought it. Congrats on the biggest flop since Microsoft Zune
    It's not a Google product.
    I knew that. Duh. who's Andy Ruben? Not ex Google Exec and the father of the iOS copycat Android? Yeah, he got a lot of supports from Google.
  • Reply 18 of 21
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    fallenjt said:
    gatorguy said:
    fallenjt said:
    wow...88,000 Google employees actually bought it. Congrats on the biggest flop since Microsoft Zune
    It's not a Google product.
    I knew that. Duh. who's Andy Ruben? Not ex Google Exec and the father of the iOS copycat Android? Yeah, he got a lot of supports from Google.
    He gets a lot of support from Google? Where did you come across that? I thought he was a former employee who may not have left on the best terms. 
    edited February 2018 muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 19 of 21
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,274member
    Re: advertising for the Essential phone -- I've seen frequent ads for it both on the web and from the local carrier's store (they push it and the Pixel far harder than any Apple product). I have yet to see an Essential phone in the wild, not that this is anything but anecdotal but I do spend a lot of time in coffeeshops and pay attention to how many Apple products, Windows notebooks or Surfaces, and Android phones there are out and being used. To my surprise, much of the time the Apple products outnumber the others by 2-to-1 or higher (though it should be noted I live in a college town with a very healthy Apple eco-system).
  • Reply 20 of 21
    So not that essential then. They should have called it the 'non essential phone'.
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