Essential PH-1

A spokesperson for Essential Products today confirmed to XDA Developers that the company’s next device is now in “early testing.” The news comes three months after CEO and Android co-founder Andy Rubin teased a new product.

The company hasn’t yet revealed what the device will entail but information uncovered by XDA suggests it may not be the second-generation smartphone everyone has been waiting for. That’s because it defaults to a 90/270º rotation which is typically associated with tablets – smartphones almost always default to a 0º rotation. 

While this is far from confirmation Essential’s next product will be a tablet, other bits of info do seem more reliable. The new device seems to be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 730 and Android 10. References to a total of five cameras including a 48-megapixel Sony IMX 586, a 20-megapixel Sony IMX 476, a 16-megapixel Sony IMX519, a 13-megapixel Sony IMX 258, and a 5-megapixel Samsung S5K5E9 were also spotted.

Essential has rather unsurprisingly maintained a close relationship with Google since it was founded but it did appear to be testing a version of Android without any Google apps or services. There’s no guarantee the final product will ship without them, but it’s still a pretty interesting detail that’s worth pointing out.