A market researcher claims that Essential has only sold 5,000 units of its first handset, the PH-1, through Sprint, its exclusive wireless carrier.

A couple of points before moving on to the story.

First, I’ve never heard of BayStreet Research, which is the originator of this data. But according to the Internet, which is always right, they are a San Francisco-based market research firm that provides “smartphone, tablet, and wearables sell-through data and insights.”

Second, Essential doesn’t only distribute its phones through Sprint: In fact, I’d imagine that the majority of its sales come via direct sales from the Essential website.

That said, even if Essential sells, say, five times as many phones directly as it (allegedly) has via Sprint, this is bad news for Android founder Andy Rubin’s new company. You never want to see the word “thousand” in any report about smartphone unit sales.

So, there’s nothing about this news on the BayStreet Research website. But The Register is reporting that the firm told it about the 5,000 units figure.

“The Essential handset has only managed to move about 5,000 units,” the publication notes. “By comparison, Apple in its latest quarter managed to flog more than … 5,000 handsets every 20 minutes or so.”

I was initially excited about Essential, mostly because of what Mr. Rubin is trying to achieve. But the device itself features a lackluster camera, which puts it out of the running for me. And I can only imagine that Sprint doesn’t do a great job of promoting this product to customers.

Tagged with Essential