Essential, the smartphone maker from Android co-founder Andy Rubin, is staying mum on whether its titular gadget has been delayed. News organizations began pinging the company last week when it was clear Essential missed its 30-day shipping deadline set by Rubin himself at the Code Conference in late May. The company has not appeared to respond to any of these requests, including The Verge’s, leaving pre-order buyers and other interested parties in the dark on the fate of the Android-powered handset.

A missed deadline is not that big of a deal, especially not for a device from that didn’t publicly exist until just 40 days ago (and from a startup, and not a big-name manufacturer, no less). But Essential’s silence is more worrisome, as it…

Continue reading…