Essential Phone 2 (PH-2) reference spotted in Vodafone CZ Self Care website

Andy Rubin’s Essential is one of those OEMs who love to be in the center of controversies. Keeping those aside, the only phone (PH-1) released by them and its steady software support have got a cult following.

The rumors about a successor are spreading since the early days of PH-1. Lately there were reports about a trimmed down AI assistant-esque phone in making.

The design of the new mobile device isn’t like a standard smartphone. It would have a small screen and require users to interact mainly using voice commands, in concert with Essential’s artificial-intelligence software. The idea is for the product to book appointments or respond to emails and text messages on its own, according to the people familiar with the plans. Users would also be able to make phone calls from the planned device.

https://twitter.com/Arubin/status/999772765405171712

At the end of December 2018, Android Police reached out to Essential for an official statement about PH-1 unavailability. The spokesperson did put some hints about the next mobile phone.

We are sold out of Essential Phone on essential.com and won’t be adding any new inventory. We are now hard at work on our next mobile product and will continue to sell accessories and provide speedy software updates and customer support to our existing community.

Jason Keats, Head of R&D of Essential posted a satirical tweet around the same time:

As a matter of fact, a reference to Essential PH-2 has now spotted in the wild. A redditor u/lukino805 tried to configure WiFi calling on their PH-1 and stumbled on the Vodafone Self Care site.

The site clearly lists two Essential phones, and the name of the second one is (don’t say that, don’t say that…) ‘PH-2’. According to the user, the listing did not contain any of the Essential phone(s) “at the beginning of last month”.

Judging from the post history, the user is from Czech Republic. Essential already has a presence in Europe, thus the reference is not something like an oxymoron.

While no picture of the phone is given, is this enough to speculate a proper successor of PH-1 from Essential in upcoming MWC 2019? Don’t ignore this tweet from Jason:

Seconding the claim of this redditor, we are unable to locate Essential’s name in the list of exhibitors at MWC 2019. The registration window is still open though. ?

Essentials fans, cross your fingers!

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