Solana Mobile's New Smartphone Receives Record Demand
Solana Mobile, a company founded by the developers of the Solana blockchain, has announced a new smartphone with support for crypto applications. The device, called Chapter 2, has seen record demand, with over 30,000 pre-orders placed in the first 24 hours after its announcement.
The new smartphone is priced at $450, which is $150 less than its predecessor, the Saga, which was released in 2023.
According to Solana Labs CEO Raj Gokal, the high demand for the new smartphone is due to a number of factors. First, the company has made the device more affordable. Second, several developers of crypto services in the Solana ecosystem have announced airdrops of tokens to owners of the smartphones.
The first Solana smartphone, the Saga, was not a commercial success. The company was forced to lower its price from $1,000 to $599, but this did not help. The situation changed dramatically in December 2023, when crypto traders discovered that the device's built-in wallet contained several Solana tokens, including Bonk (BONK), which had increased in price by nearly 100x between October and December 2023. As a result, the Saga was quickly sold out from official websites and resold on the secondary market for prices ranging from $2,000 to $5,000.
Bonk is a meme coin that runs on the Solana blockchain. It was released in early 2023 and quickly generated hype, followed by a decline in price until the end of October. The token's price then began to rise sharply, possibly due to the rise in the price of the Solana (SOL) token, which sparked interest in assets in the Solana ecosystem, including Bonk.
The new Chapter 2 smartphone will have the same specifications as the Saga, including an Android operating system, a built-in crypto wallet, a secure key storage, and a crypto app store. The device is scheduled to be released in the first half of 2025.
The record demand for Solana Mobile's new smartphone is a sign of growing interest in the crypto industry. The price reduction and the announcement of airdrops of tokens were the main factors that contributed to this success.