According to a new rumor, the Essential PH-1 may actually become available in India, officially. The source claims that the Essential PH-1 will arrive to India in late March or April, and that it will be available exclusively via Amazon India. This info is based on ‘sources’, and is nothing but a regular rumor at this point. This rumor also claims that the Essential PH-1 variant which arrives to India will have Alexa, and that it will be quite affordable, as it is expected to cost less than Rs. 30,000 ($465), one source even claims that it will be priced at Rs. 24,999 ($387).
Now, this is a rather vague rumor, and truth be said, the price point that the source suggests, well, one of them, seems to be too low. The Essential PH-1 is currently priced at $499 in the US, at least on the company’s official website, while the three new color variants that the company announced are $100 more expensive. Truth be said, the Essential PH-1 (two original models) can be purchased from Amazon.com for $449, but it’s hard to believe that it will cost less than $400 in India. If the Essential PH-1 ever makes its way to India, it is likely that it will cost above $450, possibly even above $500. In any case, the Essential PH-1 originally launched in Black Moon and Pure White color variants, while the company introduced three new models a couple of days ago, Ocean Depths, Stellar Gray and Copper Black colors. All of those devices are the same in terms of the design, and specs, these are only new color options which are $100 more expensive, and it seems like their manufacturing may have something to do with that. Essential mentioned that it takes quite a bit of time to manufacture new colors of ceramic, as all Essential PH-1 devices ship with a ceramic back, while the phone’s frame is made out of titanium.
The Essential PH-1 was originally announced back in May, while it became available in August, in the US. This phone’s availability is quite limited outside of US, the phone was expected to hit Europe in late 2017, but that did not happen, though there’s still time. Essential managed to sell less than 90,000 Essential PH-1 units last year, and the fact that this is the company’s first smartphone may have something to do with that, not to mention that the device was quite expensive when it first launched. Having said that, do take the aforementioned rumor with a grain of salt, even though there’s a chance that the device may arrive to India in the near future.