This is the most beautiful phone I've ever seen - here's how it was made

"Someone finally made a phone for me."

That was my first thought when I unwrapped the ocean depths Essential Phone, which is neither blue nor green, but a deep jewel tone.

It's made out of ceramic, and around the edge is a shiny, copper-colored titanium band. Altogether, it's a color combination that's never been used on a smartphone before - and it's quite possibly the best-looking phone I've ever seen.

The Essential Phone, which is the brainchild of Android creator Andy Rubin, launched in August 2017. The phone debuted at $700, but its price was slashed by $200 a few months later amid reports of poor sales. Last month, research firm IDG estimated that Essential had sold fewer than 90,000 phones, a fraction of what Apple and Samsung typically sell.

Still, there's no denying that the Essential Phone is one of the more innovative smartphones to launch in recent years, and after using the device for a few weeks, I wanted to know how Essential's designers came up with the design for its phone - and why they chose such unusual color combinations.

I talked with Linda Jiang, Essential's head of industrial design and the woman responsible for creating one of the most beautiful and unusual phones you can buy: