Essential Phone Snapdragon 835 Android Oreo Flagship Drops To $399 With 128GB Unlocked

One of the reasons the Essential Phone did not perform better in terms of sales is because it launched at $699, putting it in competition with premium handsets from established players. It was just too pricey, despite an overall decent collection of hardware and features. Now the price is a lot more enticing—Amazon is selling the handset for $399.99, making it a pretty good deal for what you get in return.

This is an unlocked handset with a 5.71-inch edge-to-edge Quad HD display, powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip. Granted, the Snapdragon 845 has replaced the previously generation 835 at the top of the processing stack, but it's still a fast chip. The phone also boasts 4GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage, the latter of which is made even more attractive in the absence of custom apps that carriers like to throw on handsets, or other bloat.

The new price is certainly to attract some customers, so it won't propel the Essential Phone from a flop to a sales success. It was reported earlier this year that less than 90,000 units shipped in the first six months after launch. That is an abysmal figure. To put it into perspective, Apple sold 22.39 million iPhones during the last quarter of 2017 alone. The Essential Phone was never going to compete with the iPhone in sales numbers, but certainly Andy Rubin had higher expectations than just 90,000 units.

Also of note is the notch at the top of the Essential Phone. It predates the iPhone X in introducing a notched display, though it's not as pronounced as it is on Apple's flagship device. The idea behind the notch is to accommodate a front-facing camera while devoting more space for the actual display, resulting in narrower bezels.

Users can choose between three color options on Amazon, including Black Moon, Halo Gray, and Pure White. Hit the source link or click here to grab one.