Final 12 months’s launch of the Solana Saga smartphone was an enormous guess by Solana Labs that didn’t initially seem to repay. However a year-end surge in demand across the then-discounted cellphone, thanks partly to the surging worth of token airdrops tied to it, cleared out the remaining inventory and prompted questions on what’s subsequent.
Enter “Chapter 2.” Revealed in January, simply weeks after the airdrop craze that revitalized the Saga’s fortunes, the subsequent Solana cellphone is ready to launch in mid-2025 because the Solana Seeker after already attracting 140,000 pre-orders.
Solana Cellular, the Labs division behind the {hardware}, revealed the official branding and a primary take a look at the subsequent Android handset onstage at Token 2049 in Singapore Friday.
And it’s totally different. The beforehand introduced $450 pre-order price—lower than half that of the Saga—might need already urged that, however Solana Cellular Basic Supervisor Emmett Hollyer informed Decrypt that we shouldn’t choose the Seeker by its a lot cheaper price level.
“We have priced it very aggressively as a result of we wish it to be accessible for progress,” he stated, “not essentially as a result of we see this in any method of a step down.
Full {hardware} specs haven’t been launched but, however Hollyer stated that the Solana Seeker could have a brighter “flagship show” and a longer-lasting battery than the Saga, plus “higher cameras”—together with a brand new third sensor packed onto the again.
And by way of efficiency, he urged that will probably be a “significant step up from Saga,” partly as a result of it’s been so lengthy because the Saga’s specs had been set in early 2022. The Seeker {hardware} can be “lighter and smaller” than the Saga was, partly as a result of they imagine that many customers plan to make use of it as a secondary gadget slightly than changing their major cellphone.
That’s a shift in type in addition to a pivot in messaging, which Hollyer stated was primarily based partly on suggestions to Saga and rising use circumstances, such working node software program and mining tokens for decentralized bodily infrastructure networks (DePINs). The Seeker title, he defined, was impressed by the concept of customers making an attempt to “discover new alternatives,” whether or not that’s rewards, experiences, or connection.
“Persons are consistently searching for these issues out,” he stated, “and so it simply got here to us very, in a short time.”
He admitted that messaging across the Saga might have been complicated by way of its crypto focus. However with 140,000 folks already plunking down deposits for the Seeker, they’re assured that there’s a rising group of potential customers—and that this cellphone will likely be targeted on new and entrenched crypto customers, slightly than most of the people.
“I do not anticipate this to be a tool that we’re simply pitching to the lots, like, ‘Hey, use an Android cellphone and possibly strive among the crypto options,’” Hollyer stated. “I would like to be there, however I feel we have to actually, actually get this proper, and actually study from our customers earlier than we will begin to pull within the lots.”
Solana Telephone 2.0
Amid all of the adjustments, nonetheless, some parts of the Seeker are very very like the Saga. The crypto integration is once more pushed by the Seed Vault, a customized custody resolution constructed inside a safe setting on the cellphone. It’s referred to as out visually within the cellphone’s design this time, as seen within the product photographs, in a shiny cutout wrapped round the precise aspect of the body.
Along with the Seed Vault itself, Solana Cellular has designed a customized software program pockets for the Seeker in collaboration with Solflare, promising what Hollyer described as a “higher consumer expertise” in comparison with the wallets at present obtainable on the Saga.
They’ve additionally seen considerably extra curiosity from Solana builders and builders in launching cell decentralized apps (dapps) alongside the Seeker. Simply 20,000 models of the Saga had been produced, however with Seeker pre-orders already hitting a 7x a number of of that, he stated that builders have extra incentive to dedicate time and sources to cell.
“We have now been frankly inundated by ecosystem outreach,” he stated.
Lastly, just like the Saga, every Seeker cellphone will ship with a Genesis NFT—a soulbound token without end tied to the proprietor’s pockets. The Saga pioneered this mannequin, and it shortly proved to be a “rewards magnet” for house owners, as Hollyer framed it, due to the BONK meme coin airdrop surging in worth late final 12 months and different tasks rewarding house owners as effectively.
All of these incentives had been community-driven, he stated, and there’s been an enormous wave of curiosity from Solana builders in tapping into the Seeker viewers too. Whereas there’ll little doubt be rewards, he additionally expects tasks to supply unique entry and experiences to house owners.
“In fact, will probably be a rewards magnet,” stated Hollyer, “but it surely additionally goes to open some one-of-a-kind expertise doorways that I feel will likely be new to Seeker versus Saga.”
Edited by Guillermo Jimenez
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