Essential Phone Release Date Will Finally Be Revealed Next Week

Andy Rubin and Essential Products have confirmed that the release date for the Essential Phone will be announced some time next week. It’s also been confirmed that the upcoming smartphone will be available in the United States through Best Buy and Amazon.

Essential President Noccolo De Masi confirmed the release date announcement of the Essential Phone to The Wall Street Journal yesterday. Andy Rubin followed that up on his Twitter page by saying that the they are now in “full mass production” for the phone, and he reiterated the announcement of the device’s release date next week.

The Essential Phone was first revealed back in May, and at the time, Rubin said that it would start shipping the phone some time by the end of June. That of course didn’t happen, and the Essential Phone was delayed for unknown reasons.

READ: Essential Phone Release Date Delay: Company Loses Several Executives Ahead Of Launch​

Since then, a couple of executives have left Essential sparking rumors that there may be a big problem within the company. With Rubin and his company now preparing to announce the official release date for the Essential Phone, all of those issues now seem to have been simply swept under the rug.

The Essential Phone will be available to buy from Essential’s own website, and the upcoming handset will also be available from Sprint in the U.S. Added to that list are Best Buy and Amazon, where the phone will be available to purchase unlocked for $699.

Essential President De Masi also said that the Essential Phone isn’t meant to be a mass market device, which is the reason why the company is only expecting single digit millions in sales for the first year. This will also be affecting distribution as the Essential Phone’s availability during its initial release will be limited.

Rubin’s announcement for the Essential Phone release date was also accompanied by the news that Essential has managed to secure $300 million in funding from Tencent, Foxconn and Amazon. This explains why Amazon will be selling the Essential Phone once it officially launches.

Amazon actually invested in Essential through Alexa Fund, as pointed out by CNET. This may be because Essential is also planning to release its own digital assistant and a smart home speaker like the Amazon Echo.

READ: Essential Phone's Dual Cameras Explained By Company's Image Quality Engineer

Amazon’s investment in Essential might also be a sign that the company wants to gain a stronger foothold in the smartphone market. Amazon tried and failed to do just that when it released its own Fire Phones.

The Essential Phone features a 5.71-inch display with a QHD resolution of 2,560 x 1,320. The device caught everyone’s attention with its bezel-less design and its cutout for the front-facing cameras. Inside, the handset is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor along with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal memory.

The Essential Phone also comes with a set of dual cameras on the back, which the company says is very capable of producing high quality photos. The device is also semi-modular, allowing users to attach accessories. The first announced accessory for the device is a 360-degree camera, which can be bundled with the phone for $749.