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This misunderstands the problem... Carriers are the main distribution channel for phones. You can’t compete with carrier distro.

Analemma_ 8y ago
I said that in my comment? Carriers control visibility for big, flagship phones, but the Chinese manufacturers still manage to sell decently by marketing their cheaper phones directly to consumers. That's the kind of strategy Essential should have emulated, until they got big enough to start cutting deals with carriers.
- unexpected 8y ago
  again, I don't see how you can draw a comparison between cheap Chinese manufacturers and an SV backed startup. Can you imagine the VC pitch for that? "We want to raise capital so we can make low-margin phones and that Chinese manufacturers can easily undercut". Chinese manufacturers have more capital and have easier ways to monetize than a small startup. For that matter, Name a Cheap Chinese manufacturer that has been able to break through in the US market? No chinese phone manufacturer has more than 8% of the market in the US. Essential took their shot at trying to make a value-chain leap. They failed. That's okay. Life moves on, their engineers will be okay, and they'll get more opportunities in the future - but at least they took their shot.
saagarjha 8y ago
Well, that's what OnePlus did, and it seems to have done fine.
- remir 8y ago
  OnePlus is also increasing the price of their phone with each new version and they don't want to be perceived as a cheap brand. For example, in Canada, the latest Oneplus 6 cost $699 CAD. That's not cheap. Sure, iPhones and Galaxys are more expensive, but I don't know a lot of people who are ready to drop $700 on a phone from a internet-only brand.
briankelly 8y ago
They were partnered with Sprint, clearly it just wasn't enough. I think they simply weren't different enough to convince people to leave the more trusted brands. Smart phones have reached that stage of maturity where the new generations offer little change over the older and the market is accordingly reaching a sort of stasis/equilibrium.
- jrs95 8y ago
  Sprint is also the worst carrier to partner with. People buying flagship phones aren't upgrading their on Sprint, they're switching to other networks.

Analemma_ 8y ago

I said that in my comment? Carriers control visibility for big, flagship phones, but the Chinese manufacturers still manage to sell decently by marketing their cheaper phones directly to consumers. That's the kind of strategy Essential should have emulated, until they got big enough to start cutting deals with carriers.

unexpected 8y ago
again, I don't see how you can draw a comparison between cheap Chinese manufacturers and an SV backed startup. Can you imagine the VC pitch for that? "We want to raise capital so we can make low-margin phones and that Chinese manufacturers can easily undercut". Chinese manufacturers have more capital and have easier ways to monetize than a small startup. For that matter, Name a Cheap Chinese manufacturer that has been able to break through in the US market? No chinese phone manufacturer has more than 8% of the market in the US. Essential took their shot at trying to make a value-chain leap. They failed. That's okay. Life moves on, their engineers will be okay, and they'll get more opportunities in the future - but at least they took their shot.

saagarjha 8y ago

Well, that's what OnePlus did, and it seems to have done fine.

remir 8y ago
OnePlus is also increasing the price of their phone with each new version and they don't want to be perceived as a cheap brand. For example, in Canada, the latest Oneplus 6 cost $699 CAD. That's not cheap. Sure, iPhones and Galaxys are more expensive, but I don't know a lot of people who are ready to drop $700 on a phone from a internet-only brand.

briankelly 8y ago

They were partnered with Sprint, clearly it just wasn't enough. I think they simply weren't different enough to convince people to leave the more trusted brands. Smart phones have reached that stage of maturity where the new generations offer little change over the older and the market is accordingly reaching a sort of stasis/equilibrium.

jrs95 8y ago
Sprint is also the worst carrier to partner with. People buying flagship phones aren't upgrading their on Sprint, they're switching to other networks.