Solana Is Taking Pre-Orders for Its Crypto Phone

Solana is now taking $100 refundable pre-orders for the $1k Solana Saga crypto phone, which is expected to ship in early 2023.

Solana Is Taking Pre-Orders for Its Crypto Phone
Like all phones, the Saga was announced on a stage by a man wearing tennis shoes

Solana is taking pre-orders for the Solana Saga crypto phone. Solana enthusiasts can make a refundable deposit of $100 now toward the total purchase price of $1k due when the phone ships in early 2023. At launch, the Solana Saga will be available to customers in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, and the EU.

The Solana Saga will be the first crypto-native smartphone operating on a mainstream blockchain, but it will also be a normal phone. Solana says the Saga will be like an Android phone, complete with the normal Google apps and the Google Play Store, as well as Solana-specific apps and the Solana dApp Store.

OSOM is a privacy-focused hardware manufacturer which has struggled for years to release its privacy phone, the OV1. Solana partnered with OSOM over the summer, and now it looks like the OSOM OV1 will be released with crypto features as the Solana Saga phone.

The Solana Saga is expensive at $1k, but it's expected to have fairly high-end specs: a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor, 12 GB RAM, 512GB storage, and a 6.67" OLED screen. Developers will get early access to the phone, so if you want to get your hands on one, you'll need your own Solana project.

It's hard for me to imagine what I'd do with a crypto-native phone, but Solana seems like one of the best blockchains to do it with. Aside from its many annoying outages, Solana is a great blockchain: it's super fast, super cheap, and has a ton of development resources. If the Solana Spaces stores take off, they could be a place to buy and service your phone, browse NFTs, and open risky DeFi positions. Neat!