Essential lets go of 30 per cent of its staff

A year ago, Essential was the most exciting new entrant in the smartphone space. Their innovative yet undercooked Essential PH-1 brought a new level of luxury and design thinking to the market plus it had the smallest notch on a edge-to-edge display, something that's easy to overlook in today's notch riddled smartphone market.

Essential reportedly let go of 30 per cent of its staff as it continues to wrap up operations. The cuts were mostly to its sales and hardware divisions after the company was unable to find a buyer. Essential cancelled its follow up to the PH-1 and said it would focus on smart home product although nothing has materialized.

As for the PH-1, it has improved over time thanks to a litany of software updates and fixes. Unfortunately a recent Android update disabled unlocked Essential Phones from reading SIM cards that aren't from Sprint, which renders the devices unusuable for other networks.

Essential's spokesperson commented that “This has been a difficult decision to make. We are very sorry for the impact on our colleagues who are leaving the company and are doing everything we can to help them with their future careers. We are confident that our sharpened product focus will help us deliver a truly game changing consumer product.”

Source: The Verge