Solana’s second Web 3.0 smartphone was pre-ordered more than 30 000 times in 30 hours

What’s new? The second Web 3.0 smartphone from the developers of the Solana blockchain was pre-ordered more than 30 000 times 30 hours after its announcement. Solana Mobile introduced the Chapter 2 device following the success of its debut smartphone Saga, which, however, did not come immediately. Sales were at an extremely low level for a year after release but jumped sharply by December last year amid a rise in the native token SOL and a series of airdrops for device owners from ecosystem projects.

TechCrunch’s material

What else is known? According to Solana co-founder and president of Solana Labs Raj Gokal, the seven-day sales goal for Chapter 2 was reached on the first day after the announcement, surpassing Saga’s one-year goal.

The new smartphone will have the same features as its predecessor: it is based on Android, has a built-in crypto wallet, and a marketplace of decentralized applications (DApps). The initial price will be $450, and the device will go on sale in the first half of 2025.

Saga was released in mid-2023 at a price of $1000, which was later reduced to $599 due to low demand. In December, the team of the BONK meme token based on Solana launched an airdrop, allocating 30 million coins to each Saga owner, which resulted in the device selling out in 24 hours. In Q4, BONK became the top return leader with over 7500%, and the airdrop more than 100% covered the purchase price of the Saga.

Following BONK, other developers of Solana-based DApps have also started offering rewards to Saga owners. According to Gokal, the company is constantly receiving requests for an additional batch of devices.

The senior executive said that the new Chapter 2 device has been in development for over a year now. Its owners will be able to get rewards from Backpack, Tensor, Phantom, Solflare, Magic Eden, and Drip projects. Solana Mobile also plans to offer users a counterpart to the non-transferrable NFT Saga Genesis that came with the first model and allowed them to claim additional rewards.