About a year ago, we’ve reported that Android co-founder Andy Rubin is looking to re-enter the smartphone market after departing from Google in 2014. If a Bloomberg report is to be believed, Rubin will be making his return to the market this year by way of a company called Essential.
According to Bloomberg’s report, Essential is a 40-man team that consists of ex-Apple and ex-Google employees with Rubin being the Chief Executive Officer of the company. The company is expected to debut a new high-end smartphone in mid-2017 that will go up with the likes of the iPhone and Google’s new Pixel phone.
While the phone itself is still in its prototyping stages, said phone is stated to come with a large edge-to-edge bezel-less screen, a ceramic back, magnetic charging, and the company’s own take on Apple’s 3D Touch. The phone is also rumoured to come with an accessory connector that would allow the device to add third-party accessories, making the phone pseudo-modular in a way.
On the pricing side of things, the phone is expected to have a price tag that is similar to the iPhone 7. That being said, seeing as the phone itself hasn’t actually been finalized yet, the phone could undergo some drastic changes until it is publically revealed.