Essential Phone 2 reportedly canceled, Andy Rubin considering selling the company [Update]
Updated 6:51 PM — Following Bloomberg's report, Andy Rubin has since taken to Twitter with the following message: "We always have multiple products in development at the same time and we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits. We are putting all of our efforts towards our future, game-changing products, which include mobile and home products."
According to a new report from Bloomberg, Andry Rubin is considering selling his startup Essential and has canceled the launch of the 2nd-gen Essential Phone.
Per Bloomberg's report —
Playground Global, Rubin's incubator that was used to launch Essential, is said to have raised around $300 million from the likes of Amazon, Tencent Holdings Inc., and Redpoint Ventures. Of that $300 million, one-third of it ($100 million) was used just for developing Essential's first round of products. Considering we never saw more than renders of the Essential Home, it's safe to say that the majority of that $100 million was focused on the first Essential Phone and its 360-degree camera attachment.
As Bloomberg continues —
Essential has yet to comment on this report, and while a new buyer could come in and pick the company up out of this rut, there's no way of painting this as good news. It's unclear if Essential will continue to support the existing Essential Phone, but we'll be sure to let you know as these details come to light.
Only 88,000 units of the Essential Phone were supposedly sold in 2017
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Joe Maring was a Senior Editor for Android Central between 2017 and 2021. You can reach him on Twitter at @JoeMaring1.