While Essential exited the smartphone race
earlier this year with only one phone under its belt, former designer Kevin
Hoffman revealed a set of concepts for the planned Essential PH-2 which was
close to launch and the PH-3 which was still in its early development phase in
a blog post.
Design-wise, the PH-2 was going to be
fairly similar to the Essential PH-1 with a waterdrop notch screen, flat glass
back with dual cameras and a fingerprint scanner alongside the proprietary pogo
pin connectors for modular accessories. The sides and top, however, look to be
curved instead of the flat design on the company’s first smartphone and all the
buttons are placed on the right side. The back glass panel was also going to
feature a matte finish as opposed to the glossy one on the PH-1.
The bottom of the PH-2 was to house two
speaker grilles and the phone was supposed to bring IP68 water and dust
resistance. According to Hoffman, the Essential PH-2 was close to being launched
before the company decided to pull the plug after its second round of prototype
testing.
The Essential PH-3, on the other hand, was
only in its infancy as work on the project began in early 2020. Essential
planned to launch the device with an aggressive price tag and a three-camera
array. In addition, the PH-3 was supposed to sport an OLED display with a
slimmer chin and an all-aluminum build.
Back in October we also saw the company’s
interesting tall and narrow Project GEM concept device which was demoed by Andy
Rubin himself but was ultimately scrapped when Essential shut down its
operations.
