By
Bena Ilyas
April 30th, 2024
While it is too early to speculate on the long-term success of the device, it is worth noting that it has seen more demand than the Saga.
Solana Mobile’s latest Web3 phone, Chapter 2, has exceeded expectations by hitting 25,000 pre-orders within 24 hours after its announcement was made and 30,000 pre-orders after 30 hours.
According to a TechCrunch report, Solana Co-founder and Solana Labs President Raj Gokal revealed that with 25,000 pre-orders, the device, which is priced at $450, had reached its seven-day sales target within 24 hours. Chapter 2 is already outperforming the company’s flagship device, the Solana Saga which was launched last year. At the current number of pre-orders, Chapter 2 has already surpassed 12 months’ worth of Saga sales.
30,000 preorders in the first 30 hours.
It's small step towards realizing our goal of making web3 universally accessible.
Your faith in our vision means the world to us. We're just getting started 🔥
Preorder now 👉 https://t.co/nYR9apGGIT https://t.co/HUYKYd1aHF
— Solana Mobile 2️⃣ (@solanamobile) January 18, 2024
Chapter 2 – which has been in the works for over a year – will maintain some of Saga’s features such as an Android OS, a decentralized applications store (dApp Store) and Seed Vault, “a secure custody protocol for mobile that facilitates instant signing of transactions while keeping private keys partitioned from wallets, apps, and the AndroidOS”.
The co-founder pointed out that the device is an opportunity for developers to reach ‘dedicated users’ without the inconvenient app store fees. He also drew attention to the potential for value addition and incentivization through crypto.
“For developers, Solana Mobile is creating a massive opportunity for crypto app teams looking to incentivize their users,” Gokal said. “It gives them a concentrated distribution channel to die-hard, dedicated users. It allows them to do this without any prohibitive app store fees.”
While it is too early to speculate on the long-term success of the device, it is worth noting that it has seen more demand than the Saga. Pricing and uncertainty surrounding a Web3 phone could have been a factor in the underwhelming response to the flagship device. The phone retailed for $1,000 at launch but the price was brought down to $599 due to low demand.
The Saga went on to catch an unprecedented second wind when dog-themed memecoin BONK’s dApp announced that it would airdrop 30 million BONK tokens to Saga owners, which prompted a rise in the token’s price and made the airdrop more valuable than the phone itself. Solana Mobile saw an influx of orders and quickly ran out of its stock of 20,000 mobile devices. The company had to cancel some orders and issue refunds due to the limited stock.
The Saga came with a non-transferable token that was later used as a distribution channel for airdrops and new projects in the Solana ecosystem. While Chapter 2 will not possess this kind of token, Solana Mobile has stated that there is an “incredible appetite to reach users using this mechanism, and we’re looking forward to building on this experience in Chapter 2”.
“Giving back to the community has a snowball effect: As more developers start releasing crypto-incentivized apps to Solana Mobile users, we’ll see even greater adoption,” Gokal said, adding that “Chapter 2 is focused on wider distribution, greater accessibility, and uses learnings from the last two years to enable greater flexibility for developers and users.”
The device has sponsors such as Backpack, Tensor, Phantom, Solflare, Magic Eden, and Drip, which according to Gokal, plan to reward owners.