The Essential Phone has a titanium and ceramic body, an edge-to-edge display protected by Gorilla Glass 5, and two rear cameras, one of which is dedicated to black-and-white photography.

It was notably also the first mainstream smartphone to feature a "notch" (the cut-out at the top of the display to accommodate a front-facing camera), which would eventually become a trend in the industry.

[15] A few days prior to the official announcement, Essential tweeted an image of what appeared to be a 360-degree camera attached to the smartphone.

[23][24] "Stellar Grey" and "Ocean Depths" were released as limited editions in February 2018, alongside a "Copper Black" variant.

[26] An Amazon-exclusive version of the Essential Phone was also launched that month with a "Halo Grey" color and Alexa built-in.

In January 2018, Essential announced the development of the Audio Adapter HD, a third Click Connector accessory providing a headphone jack,[36] external DAC, and amplifier.

[59][60][61] In mid-July, Rubin sent an email to potential customers saying carrier certification and testing were underway, and that he expected the device to be shipped "in a few weeks".

[62] After a series of delays and the lack of an exact release date, Best Buy put up listings for the Essential Phone,[63] which went live on August 17.

The e-mail contained an official-looking request for a "photo ID" of the customer to "verify information to complete the processing of the recent order".

Essential later tweeted that they were aware of the recent e-mails received by some customers and that they were investigating them and had taken steps to mitigate problems.

[76] Keyssa, a startup company founded by Dr. Frank Chang, Ira Deyhimy and Gary McCormack [77] and specializing in wireless data transmission, filed a lawsuit accusing Essential of trade secret theft in October 2017.

[23] In its first month of release, shipments of the Essential Phone were very low, with sales of around 5,000 units estimated being sold through Sprint.

[92] According to sources at Essential in October 2018, the company was working on another phone that operates primarily under voice control to automate certain tasks, such as responding to emails and text messages or making appointments.

[94] On October 9, 2019, Essential founder Andy Rubin shared Project Gem which was planned to be the company's upcoming smartphone.

[95] On February 12, 2020, as part of their announcement regarding ceasing operations, Essential showcased videos of the phone and stated they had, "taken Gem as far as we can and regrettably have no clear path to deliver it to customers.