Essential has its own AI assistant that runs on both the PH-1 phone and Home, but as Rubin put it, "All these people that have ecosystem envy...they have a thing. Like SmartThings as an example which is Samsung's thing...but consumers don't want just Samsung's stuff in their house."

He also pitched the phone's magnetic connector as a replacement for docks and dongles, and even a way to solve any problems created by the headphone jack it doesn't have. So far, the only accessory to show (of the five or six Rubin said he'd build first while spurring support from others for hardware accessories) is the 360-degree camera, which he also showed off onstage.