Announced in November 2005, it made its first flight on 26 July 2007 and was awarded a type certificate in December 2008; the first aircraft was delivered the same month.

Powered by two rear-mounted Pratt & Whitney Canada PW600 turbofans, it can transport four to seven passengers, with a range of 1,178 nautical miles [nmi] (2,182 km; 1,356 mi) with four occupants.

[2] On 9 November of that year, the company announced at the annual NBAA convention the name of its very light jet, the Phenom 100, and displayed a full-scale mock-up of the aircraft.

[5] That same month, Embraer announced that it had selected Garmin Aviation's G1000 electronic flight instrument system (EFIS) to be installed in the cockpit of its new jet.

[22][23] On 26 July 2007, the prototype Phenom 100 performed its maiden flight from the company's facility in São José dos Campos, Brazil.

[31] The Embraer Phenom 100 is a low wing cantilever monoplane with a T-tail and a retractable tricycle landing gear.

[36] The aircraft is powered by a pair of rear-mounted Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617-F turbofan engines, each rated to generate a takeoff thrust of 7.2 kN (1,695 lb) at ISA+10 °C.

[53] In mid-2008, it was announced that a new Phenom assembly line would be established in Melbourne, Florida to serve the North American market.

[60] On 8 December 2014, a Phenom 100 with tail number N100EQ crashed into a suburban home in Gaithersburg, Maryland, while on approach to the runway at Montgomery County Airpark.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation have concluded that the probable cause of the accident was a pilot's misconduct related to not turning the deice system and inappropriate landing performance speeds for the weather conditions and airplane weight.

They recommended the development of a system that can automatically alert pilots when the ice protection should be activated on turbofan airplanes that are certified for single-pilot operation.