Solana Mobile launches Web3 phone Seeker: over 140,000 units sold in pre-sale, planned for release in mid-2025

Author: Weilin, PANews

On September 19, Solana Mobile, a subsidiary of Solana Labs, launched its second crypto phone, "Seeker," at the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore. Previously known as "chapter 2," Seeker has garnered significant attention since its introduction in January this year, with official pre-sales exceeding 140,000 units.

Unlike before, Seeker is equipped with a mobile-first Seed Vault wallet and integrates the new version of the Solana dApp store. In this article, PANews will take users on a quick overview of this long-awaited Web3 phone.

Integration of the new dApp store, expected to launch mid-next year

According to the official introduction, the name Seeker is inspired by the idea of users trying to "find new opportunities," whether in rewards, experiences, or connections.

As described by the officials, compared to Solana Mobile's first crypto phone, Saga, Seeker will have significant hardware improvements, with better battery performance, enhanced camera capabilities, and a lighter design than Saga. Priced at $450, this price will remain until the Breakpoint ends on September 21, with Seeker expected to ship in mid-2025.

So far, the main features announced for Solana Seeker include the Seed Vault wallet, a mobile-centric crypto wallet that is natively integrated with the device's built-in self-custody Seed Vault, offering fast transactions and simplified account management. This wallet was created specifically for Seeker by Solflare.

Additionally, both Saga and Seeker are based on the Android system, and the Seeker phone also integrates the Solana dApp Store 2.0, featuring a new rewards tracker and enhanced app discovery capabilities, covering applications in payments, DeFi, DePIN, NFTs, artificial intelligence, and gaming.

Similar to Saga, buyers of Seeker will receive the Seeker Genesis Token—a unique bound NFT that unlocks rewards, exclusive access, discounts, and content across the entire Solana ecosystem.

Moreover, compared to Saga, Seeker's hardware has seen significant improvements over its predecessor, including a lighter weight, brighter display, enhanced camera features, and longer battery life.

Additionally, Seeker has also seen a substantial price reduction. Previously, the Saga phone was priced at $1,000 at launch, later dropping to $599, while Seeker's pre-sale price is set at $450, less than half of Saga's price.

Emmett Hollyer, General Manager of Solana Mobile, stated that the price reduction of Seeker should not be used to judge it, emphasizing that Solana Mobile is very ambitious with its pricing and hopes to achieve growth, stating, "We do not see this as a price cut."

The first-generation Saga's successful "comeback," Solana Labs regains confidence

As the successor to Solana Saga, Seeker embodies Solana's renewed commitment to its mobile product line. The mobile product line of Solana once faced a crisis of failure. The previous product, Saga, struggled last year due to poor sales, but later crypto users discovered that purchasing the device could yield token airdrops worth more than the device itself, which helped Saga "come back to life."

In April last year, several meme coin projects distributed token airdrops for the Solana Chapter 2 phone, requiring users to fill in their Solana wallet address during the pre-order. Two cat-themed meme coins stood out, namely 37,600 Cat in a Dogs World (MEW) airdropped on April 1 and 5,199 Maneki (MANEKI) tokens airdropped on April 24. If buyers did not sell these meme coins, the value of these two airdrops reached as high as $504 around April, while the phone's price was only $450, allowing users to easily break even.

Eight months later, Saga's sales suddenly surged over tenfold from December 14 to December 15, primarily driven by the strong push from the Solana ecosystem's dog-themed token BONK airdrop. Buyers of the Saga phone could mint the Genesis token through the phone and use this token to claim airdrops of 30 million BONK tokens, which initially had a dollar value of about $10, later reaching nearly $700. The value of multiple MEME token airdrops far exceeded the price of the Saga phone itself, leading to a temporary shortage of the device. The successful comeback of Saga has restored Solana Labs' confidence, prompting them to further integrate crypto technology into mobile devices and develop dedicated hardware and software.

With the success of its predecessor, expectations for the new phone Seeker are very high, with Solana already receiving over 100,000 pre-orders by early 2024. Solana Mobile officials stated at TOKEN 2049 that based on these funding injections and buyer trust commitments, Solana Mobile successfully secured a more favorable supply chain agreement than the first-generation product.

Compared to the previous Saga's global production of 20,000 units, the pre-order volume for Seeker is already seven times that of Saga, not to mention that the complete hardware specifications of the new phone have yet to be announced. But can Seeker replicate Saga's "legend"? Let's look forward to its performance.