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Essential smartphone brand acquired by Carl Pei’s Nothing startup

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Enrique 16 February 2021

Essential Nothing Android Rumors

Late last month, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei announced his new startup company simply named ‘Nothing’. It was later revealed that the brand plans to release a pair of TWS earbuds. The company has plans to eventually release an ecosystem of devices that could connect to each other. If this sounded familiar it’s because now-defunct smartphone brand Essential was going to do the same.

It seems that Essential’s initial intention of creating this ecosystem of devices has aligned with Nothing as a new report reveals. 9to5Google found filings with the UK’s Intellectual Property Office that disclosed that former Essential CEO Andy Rubin has transferred ownership of Essential’s brand assets to Carl Pei’s Nothing Technologies Limited.

Essential smartphone brand acquired by Carl Pei’s Nothing startup

The transfer was completed on January 6 2021 and initially filed back on November 11 of 2020. The IP transfer includes existing trademarks, logo, and the Essential brand which are now to be owned by Nothing.

The Essential PH1 wasn’t widely successful itself, but the company’s startup became a unicorn – receiving a company valuation of over $1 billion before selling a single product. We have to wonder if Carl Pei’s Nothing will get farther than Essential every had the opportunity to. The company eventually fizzled following reports of Rubin’s misconduct during his time working at Google.

Prior to Essential’s downfall, the company had plans to release a PH-2 and PH-3, as well as a new extra-slim smartphone with new interface.

Essential's Andy Rubin Tweeted these back in October 2019 Essential's Andy Rubin Tweeted these back in October 2019

We wonder whether Nothing would also acquire Essential’s patents and we also wonder whether the company plans to eventually release a smartphone. Given Pei’s experience in the field, we have to say we’re intrigued by his plans for the future of Nothing. The involvement of the Essential brand does make it even more interesting. Does it have potential to disrupt the smartphone market? We don’t know just yet.

Source • Via

Related articles
  • Carl Pei’s Nothing will launch its first TWS earbuds this summer Carl Pei’s Nothing will launch its first TWS earbuds this summer
  • Carl Pei launches Nothing Carl Pei launches Nothing
  • Former Essential Phone designer shows unreleased PH-2 and PH-3 concepts Former Essential Phone designer shows unreleased PH-2 and PH-3 concepts
  • Essential founder Andy Rubin shows tall and narrow upcoming phone with color shifting back Essential founder Andy Rubin shows tall and narrow upcoming phone with color shifting back

Reader comments

?
  • Anonymous
  • vGJ
  • 14 Sep 2023

My essential phone still working well. Great spec, titanium frame (iPhone 15 boasting only now!),ceramic back. Clean Android OS, phone has never crashed

  • Reply
?
  • Anonymous
  • g4b
  • 22 Jul 2022

PH-1 was such a terribly designed product with the worst quality control. Look up how many people had issues with the screen. And lets not forget when they tried to use paper as a speaker grill. The only reason it made any headway was from the weird ...

  • Reply
g
  • gimm
  • vgN
  • 19 Apr 2021

what a joke, it's literally a tv remote with display instead of buttons

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  • Post your comment
Total reader comments: 60

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