James Cirrone

The Android-based Solana Saga has seen a significant price reduction from its iPhone-like starting price of $1,000 down to $599.&nbsp;



Solana Mobile, a subsidiary of Solana Labs, <a href="https://twitter.com/solanamobile/status/1689305794049634304?s=20">announced</a> the news via Twitter on Wednesday. The company said the $400 cut is “the next step to get wider adoption of mobile web3 and continue to improve the experience for the Solana mobile community.”



The numbers tell a slightly different story.



On-chain <a href="https://flipsidecrypto.xyz/kiryl_sol/q/teMJ5GbI42zi/saga-genesis-tokens-chart">data</a> compiled by Flipside Crypto shows that sales for the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/saga">Solana Saga</a> have come down massively since their April and May highs.&nbsp;



The data tracks the number of Saga Genesis NFT mints, something that occurs when the owner of a Solana Saga sets up their phone and the Solana app store.&nbsp;



As of July 25, there are slightly more than 2,100 unique Saga Genesis NFT owners. This suggests that approximately this many Solana Sagas have been activated since early April.



<iframe title="Number of Saga Genesis Mints" aria-label="Interactive line chart" id="datawrapper-chart-aAfvQ" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/aAfvQ/3/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="411" data-external="1"></iframe>







Emmett Hollyer, the head of business operations for Solana Mobile, told Blockworks that price cuts like this are standard in the industry.



“Implementing a price reduction several months after launch is common practice in the consumer electronics business, particularly with smartphones,” Hollyer said.&nbsp;



“A lower price will accelerate user adoption,” he added.



Twitter users who say they purchased the Solana Saga at the $1,000 price point voiced their frustration with Solana&#8217;s decision. Others showed support for the price reduction.



One user said they regretted buying the phone and said this was a “terrible look.”



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">To do this without anything being given to those of us who paid full price to offset how much this burns is a terrible look. You guys are the worst; I highly regret buying this thing.&mdash; ema.sol (@ThisHighUp) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisHighUp/status/1689317215043035136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



In the replies to that tweet, some argued that early adopters often pay a premium. In this case, that would be the people who bought the first 2,000 Solana Sagas.



Other argued that early owners of the phone were able to mint exclusive Claynosaurz NFTs. The <a href="https://magiceden.io/marketplace/claynosaurz">floor price</a> for one of these collectibles on Magic Eden is about 33 <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/sol">SOL</a>, which equates to over $800. This more than covers the price differential of $400.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Everyone with a Saga got a clayno &#8230; the last clayno mint allowed Sagas who already had a clayno to get a second clayno, so everyone with a Saga could have gotten at least one clayno. Clayno&#39;s are several hundred dollars.&mdash; Eugene 🇺🇦 (@Eugene482) <a href="https://twitter.com/Eugene482/status/1689323517291253760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The first rumblings of the Solana Saga occurred way back in June 2022, when the company unveiled their plan to give people an opportunity <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-branches-out-to-hardware-development-with-web3-mobile-phone">to manage their crypto and NFT holdings from a mobile device</a>.



“We live our lives on our mobile devices — except for Web3 because there hasn’t been a mobile-centric approach to private key management,” Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko told Blockworks at the time.&nbsp;



The phone launched in April, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-launches-saga-phone">starting out with 16 decentralized apps on its native app store</a>, including Audius, Dialect, Jupiter Aggregator, Ledger and Magic Eden among others.



Updated Aug. 10, 2023 at 4:36 pm ET: Added comment from Emmett Hollyer, the head of business operations for Solana Mobile.



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Phone

Solana cuts price of its Saga phone by 40% four months after launch

Bessie Liu

Solana Mobile has introduced its first Android device — the Saga. Customers from the US, EU, UK, Canada, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand will be able to order the phone beginning May 8.



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/solana" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Solana</a> Saga is designed to integrate the Web3 experience onto your mobile phone seamlessly.



In an interview with Blockworks, Steven Laver, the lead software engineer at Solana Mobile, notes that existing ways to engage with Web3 are still primarily through a big screen, despite mobile phones being the device we interact with most on a daily basis.



“I can’t remember the last time I went to anything but a phone…everything I do, I start with my phone, except for Web3,” Laver said.



Google and Apple app stores enforce strict rules around their payment systems, and many Web3 apps have to make compromises just to get their app in their app stores. Uniswap’s widely anticipated app was stuck in Apple app store limbo for a month before finally <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/uniswap-mobile-app-in-apple-store">reaching the public Thursday</a>.



This is where the Solana Saga steps in. A separate Solana app store sits alongside native Android apps. The mobile device is designed with two key technological elements: being useful for a Web3 audience and keeping them safe.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Security focus</h2>



Users who purchase a Solana Saga will be prompted to connect their Web3 wallets or create a new seed vault that is integrated into the phone — this is similar to having mobile pay activated on the current crop of phones.



The seed vault is connected to all dapps which are available for purchase on the Solana app store, enabling transactions to be quickly and securely signed.



“The key custody is built below the layer of the Android — so they have all Android components — and the Android OS that runs on the phone is how we surface all of this information to users, through wallets they’re already familiar with,” he said.&nbsp;



Saga uses the Qualcomm secure execution environment so that the custody of the wallet’s private keys can be removed from the main Android OS.&nbsp;



“Users should have self-custody of their assets, and they need to feel comfortable bringing those assets with them on the go, so we want to make sure you have something that is more secure than a traditional pure software-based self-custody system,” Laver said.



The is also a secure element processor built into the phone, Laver notes. This means that the seed vault is encrypted in a way that even the phone itself does not have the capability to decrypt private keys without user engagement.&nbsp;



“Whether that be through entering a password or through secure biometric touching the fingerprint sensor, all of that processing happens away from the Android, so if the Android was compromised, all your keys are still held securely away from the operating system,” Laver said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Launching for Web3 enthusiasts&nbsp;</h2>



At launch, 16 dapps will be available for download on the Solana app store. These apps include Audius, Dialect, Jupiter Aggregator, Ledger, Magic Eden, Mango Markets, Marinade, and Squads, just to name a few.



The phone is expected to begin shipping soon after its May 8 launch.&nbsp;



Users will be able to claim a Saga NFT token as soon as they set up their device, and the first few users will receive a welcome pack to Solana mobile, which will include cryptocurrencies and sticker packs.



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Solana Saga, an Android Phone With a Crypto Twist

Jocelyn Yang

<div id="highlights-block_62b4afa28b193" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The Android-based mobile device will be available early 2023</li>
 <li>The company also introduced Solana Mobile Stack (SMS), an open-source software toolkit that allows for the development of native Android Web3 apps on Solana</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Solana Labs’ subsidiary Solana Mobile <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/solana-mobile-debuts-saga-a-flagship-android-phone-for-web3-301574349.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> Thursday the launch of an Android mobile phone, Saga, that is integrated with the Solana blockchain network. 



Saga is intended to enable users to easily transact with their cryptocurrency and manage digital-asset products and services such as tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the company revealed at an event in New York today.&nbsp;



Solana Labs also introduced <a href="https://solana.com/news/solana-mobile-stack-reveal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Solana Mobile Stack</a> (SMS), an open-source software toolkit that allows for the development of native Android Web3 apps on Solana. 



SMS’ other features include the Seed Vault — a secure custody protocol that facilitates instant signing of transactions while keeping private keys partitioned from wallets, apps and the Android operating system, according to the launch announcement.



“We live our lives on our mobile devices — except for Web3 because there hasn’t been a mobile-centric approach to private key management,” Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, said. “The Solana Mobile Stack shows a new path forward on Solana that is open-source, secure, optimized for Web3, and easy to use.”



Designed and manufactured by OSOM, Saga will feature a 6.67 inch OLED display, 12GB RAM, 512GB storage and a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 mobile platform. The device’s retail price will be $1,000.&nbsp;



The Solana Mobile Stack SDK is now available to developers, and the device is available for pre-order starting today, with delivery in early 2023, the company said.



“Developers can now bring the power of Solana to the computers in our pockets, not just our backpacks,” Solana co-founder Raj Gokal said in a release. 



Solana is among a growing number of crypto companies, such as Polygon and Circle, that are <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/23/crypto-companies-tempt-top-talent-away-from-big-tech-to-build-web3.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hiring talent</a> from big tech firms such as Google and Amazon to develop Web3 spaces.


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