The Essential Phone will have a Halo Gray finish that will initially sell on Amazon. The handset is priced at $449.99 and sale starts on Feb. 21.
The latest Essential PH-1 color flavor is the sixth of the bunch and is now ready for preorder. As an Amazon exclusive, the device carries a special sticker price that translates to $50 savings for would-be buyers. On Feb, 24, regular pricing for the product will take effect.
That means the selling price will be bumped up to $499.99, which is the same price point for the Black Moon and Pure White variants of the Essential Phone on Amazon. In any case, the handset is well worth the asking price that originally was set at $699.
"With a matte finish to both the titanium and ceramic, this Amazon exclusive Essential Phone has a more industrial look while maintaining its elegant design," the online retailer said in making the case why PH-1 is a good buy.
Also, Essential announced the arrival of Halo Gray on its Twitter page, highlighting a key feature not found on the other editions of the phone.
In case three new Essential Phone colors weren't enough, today we're unveiling Halo Gray, the first Essential Phone to come with Alexa built-in. Halo Gray is available for pre-order exclusively from Amazon starting today. https://t.co/hkwkBKGypr pic.twitter.com/lDad2xngBq — Essential (@essential) February 16, 2018
Reasons To Buy Now
Essential and Amazon have decided to deliver Alexa right out of the box with the new color, giving users an instant access to the increasingly popular digital assistant. The move could seal the deal for some, specifically those already invested in the Amazon ecosystem.
Another thing to note is that the Halo Gray PH-1 is a limited offering and according to its maker, there will be no second production once the first batch of stocks have been depleted. This indicates that the color variant is imprinted with some form of exclusivity, which should convince many in the Android crowd to hustle up their buy decision.
In addition, the price discount that Amazon provides with this specific finish of the Essential will expire in a week's time, as mentioned above, which indeed is a solid case to give in to that preorder invite now.
Clarifications From Essential
In relation to the Essential PH-1 Halo Gray releasing soon, company president Niccolo De Masi made clarifications on the reports that performance of the device maker on its first year was far from impressive. There were suggestions the flagship brand only attracted 90,000 buys, at most, six months after it was released.
In an interview with TechCrunch, the executive dismissed the reports that Essential is performing below expectations. He described the projections as "off-base" when compared to the actual sales numbers achieved by Essential so far.
"I'm comfortable saying we sold in the six figures last year. We weren't in the seven figures, but we certainly weren't in the five figures," De Masi told the publication.
