It has been reported that Essential's next smartphone-related product may be saturated with enough AI technology to enable users to have a full-fledged virtual assistant in their pockets. Apparently, there is a prototype in the works, and it could even see the light of day at the 2019 CES event in January. It's unlikely it will be a successor to the Essential Phone PH-1 though.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Essential-may-go-for-broke-with-AI-driven-device.337910.0.html