Solana Mobile’s new web3 smartphone is seeing huge demand, with pre-orders for its “Chapter 2” device surpassing sales of its first phone in its first year within the first day, according to TechCrunch citing the co-founder by Solana, Raj Gokal.
Pre-orders opened shortly after, and within 24 hours Solana received over 25,000 pre-orders. Within 30 hours, pre-orders had reached 30,000 units. By contrast, Solana’s first web3 phone, Saga, sold fewer than 2,500 units in its first year since launching in mid-2023.
30,000 pre-orders in the first 30 hours.
It’s a small step towards realizing our goal of making web3 universally accessible.
Your belief in our vision means a lot to us. We’ve just started 🔥
Pre-order now 👉 https://t.co/nYR9apGGIT https://t.co/HUYKYd1aHF
— Solana Mobile 🌱 (@solanamobile) January 18, 2024
Gokal highlighted the opportunity for developers to reach a dedicated user base without the burden of app store fees. He also highlighted the potential of cryptocurrencies to add value and drive app usage. With “Chapter 2,” Solana Mobile focuses on wider distribution, greater accessibility, and greater flexibility for both developers and users.
“For developers, Solana Mobile is creating a huge opportunity for crypto app teams looking to incentivize their users. It provides them with a concentrated distribution channel for diehard and dedicated users. This allows them to do so without prohibitive costs to the app store,” Gokal said.
Solana Mobile is preparing to ship its new Chapter 2 phone in the first half of 2025.
The Chapter 2 phone was announced earlier this week with a cheaper price of $450, compared to the $1,000 starting price of the Solana Saga phone. Solana eventually reduced the Saga’s price to $599, but sales remained slow through much of 2023.
It wasn’t until the dog-themed BONK memecoin announced that Saga holders would receive 30 million BONK tokens for free that demand suddenly increased. The arbitrage opportunity led to the rapid depletion of Saga’s limited stock of 20,000 phones, even with some orders canceled and refunded due to inventory issues.