Andy Rubin’s company, Essential, announced its first smartphone (the Essential PH-1) back in May, and even though not a single unit has been shipped just yet, the company is valued at $1.2 billion. Now, this is not exactly a random number, as Bloomberg’s columnist, Tim Culpan, just reported that Foxconn FIX Mobile actually paid $3 million for a 0.25 percent stake in the company. If you put two and two together, you will get to a $1.2 billion valuation. Essential was actually valued at $997 million back in July, so this rise in its value is somewhat surprising considering that not a single phone was sold by the company.
The Essential PH-1 sure is an interesting phone, and even though it got announced back in July, Essential did not make it available for pre-order straight away, though the company did start taking reservations for it. At that point, Andy Rubin said that the phone will ship to consumers within one month, but that has not happened, and we’re still waiting for more info regarding the availability of the Essential PH-1. We might not have to wait for long, however, as Essential is hosting yet another first look event on August 21, and the company will probably shed some more light on the availability of the device, and we’ll probably get more info regarding the phone itself as well. Now, this phone is not only interesting because Andy Rubin (the creator of Android) stands behind it, but also because of its design and specifications. This smartphone is made out of titanium and ceramic, which managed to surprise quite a few people, and as you can see, it sports really thin bezels all around, and a rather unique design overall.
The Essential PH-1 features a 5.71-inch 2560 x 1312 display, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of non-expandable storage. This smartphone is fueled by the Snapdragon 835 64-bit octa-core processor, and a 3,040mAh non-removable battery is also included here. Two 13-megapixel shooters are placed on the back of the Essential PH-1, while a single 8-megapixel camera lies up front. Android 7.1 Nougat comes pre-installed on the device, and the Essential PH-1 also comes with a set of stereo speakers. This smartphone has a rear-facing fingerprint scanner, and fast charging is also a part of the package.