The company trying to revolutionize the smartphone industry has reportedly decided to make Sprint an exclusive carrier partner, calling Sprint “the network of the future.”
Essential is the new smartphone project created by Android cofounder Andy Rubin. Sprint parent SoftBank is an investor in Essential.
Although Sprint is expected to be the exclusive carrier for the Essential phone, the device will work on other carrier networks as well. The projected retail price for the unlocked phone is $700.
Sprint retail outlets will not be the only places for U.S. consumers to buy the Essential smartphone. The device is expected to be sold in Best Buy outlets as well.
The Essential features wireless charging, magnetic accessories and a 360 degree camera. Rubin said he was motivated to start the company because he felt partly responsible for some of the complexities that surround personal technology today.
“For all the good Android has done to help bring technology to nearly everyone it has also helped create this weird new world where people are forced to fight with the very technology that was supposed to simplify their lives,” he wrote in a blog post. “We will always play well with others. Closed ecosystems are divisive and outdated.”
