Essential Products cleared inventory of its hyped PH-1 smartphone, against a backdrop of speculation about its future product plans.

In a statement to 9to5Google, the company said it had sold out of the device, and “won’t be adding any new inventory”. It continued: “We are now hard at work on our next mobile product and will continue to sell accessories and provide speedy software updates and customer support to our existing community.”

While the demise of the smartphone is not unexpected – it reached the market in 2017, meaning it had a solid lifecycle for such a device – the fact remains that it departs without a successor.

Essential, which is backed by Andy Rubin, former head of Android at Google, launched to the market amid significant hype, but struggled to gain a foothold in what was already a fiercely competitive market.

According to recent reports, the company is now focusing on offering devices with enhanced AI capabilities, having acquired messaging app company CloudMagic to bolster its capabilities in this area.