Andy Rubin’s new company Essential officially announced its first smartphone. The Essential Phone, and while the company was quick to point out that the handset is unlocked and that it will work on all four of the major wireless carriers in the United States there were still questions regarding an actual carrier launch.
As it turns out that the Essential Phone will have an exclusive carrier. Essential president Niccolo De Masi informed USA Today that Sprint will be the exclusive wireless carrier to host the Essential Phone. According to Masi Sprint is the “network of the future,” and that’s why the company chose to partner up with the Now Network.
It’s worth noting that Andy Rubin is a friend of SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and that SoftBank owns 83% of Sprint itself so maybe the partnership isn’t all that surprising.
Sprint will carry the Essential Phone in its retail stores, the device itself won’t host any Sprint branding while the phone does work with all the carriers this gives Essential some marketing in United States outside of the traditional advertisements the company will be running.
Did you already reserve your Essential Phone?
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