According to a new report, some Essential PH-1 units are actually being shipped with refurbished parts. This new info comes from Reddit, where a person who works for Sprint, allegedly, revealed that a small number of the Essential PH-1 units ship with refurbished parts. That person also revealed that they were notified of that fact quite recently, and that consumers who purchased units with refurbished parts will be notified really soon.
Sprint’s alleged employer says that affected consumers will receive an SMS, which will direct them to the carrier’s website, where they will find a solution to the problem. Considering that Sprint plans on sending SMS to specific units, it seems like they’re aware exactly which phones were shipped with manufactured parts. Now, this is a rather embarrassing mistake by Essential, if there’s any truth to this report, of course. If it’s true, and Essential PH-1 owners start getting notified regarding this whole issue, chances are that they will be offered replacement units instead, though we’re only guessing. Do keep in mind that this is just a random report from Reddit, there’s no proof of this at all, at least not yet, but if it is true, we will find out soon enough. If this is true, Essential will probably release an official statement regarding the matter, at least that would be the right thing to do.
Essential did not exactly sell as many Essential PH-1 units as they were hoping to sell in 2017, as they sold less than 90,000 phones last year, at least according to a recent report by IDC. The Essential PH-1 does differentiate from the competition, but its high launch price, delays, and numerous critics obviously affected sales, not to mention that Essential is a completely new company, so it does not have the mindshare necessary for high sales numbers. The Essential PH-1 is considerably more affordable now, and the company even announced three new color variants recently, so it’s still very much an option if you’re looking for a new smartphone. The device is made out of titanium and ceramic, it sports really thin bezels, and a small notch on the display. The phone is fueled by the Snapdragon 835, while it sports 4GB of RAM and 128GB of native storage.