In May 2023, Solana launched crypto’s first-ever smart phone, the award-winning Saga. Since then, web3 users around the world have scrambled to get their hands on it, leading it to sell out in under a year, and spawning a lucrative secondary market.
What’s all the hype about? In this article, we'll dive into all things Saga and reveal what else Solana Mobile is planning.
What is Saga?
Saga is an award-winning crypto smartphone by Solana.
The device leverages the Android operating system and has been designed with blockchain principles at its core and self-custody as its overarching ethos.
Initially, Saga didn't get off to a good start. For instance, a couple of months ago, renowned tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, released a video review of Saga, in which he came to the conclusion that the device is a waste of time and money.
And at the end of 2023, MKBHD doubled down by selecting Saga as the “Bust Of The Year” in his Mobile Awards.
Yet, Saga devices are out of stock and remain in high demand.
What explains this conundrum?
MKBHD, and many others, are judging the phone from a traditional perspective and overlooking its unique value to a niche community: crypto users. And one thing the phone does undeniably well is appeal to this specific group.
How?
Through four key aspects:
- Mobile
- App Store
- Self Custody
- Airdrops
Let's explore each.
Mobile
With mobile networks becoming more widespread, mobile phones have outpaced the usage of both laptops and desktop PCs, especially in developing countries.
Today, 60% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. As such, the launch of Saga fits perfectly into current trends, although more cost-effective models will be needed for mass adoption.
App Store
The iPhone makes up ~ 20% of the global mobile phone market and more than 50% of the mobile phone market in the US.
However, the Apple App Store does not only employ a strict app review process that seems to hamstring web3/crypto apps, but also charges a 30% commission fee on all app purchases and in-app transactions. This leads to less competition, limited innovation, higher costs for consumers, and reduced profits for developers.
Saga ships with an additional dApp Store that broadly follows the policies of the Google Play Store, surpassing the restrictions and fees implemented by Apple.
Self custody
Overall, self-custody of financial assets can offer greater control, privacy, and security to individuals, particularly in contexts where traditional financial systems may be lacking or untrustworthy.
This is why Saga comes with Seed Vault, a native self-custody feature that safeguards the wallet’s seed phrase within a secure environment on the phone. Even the Android operating system doesn’t have access, and it’s tied to your biometric signature via Saga’s fingerprint sensor.
Saga airdrops: Past and future
When purchasing a brand-new Saga, you'll receive a device-bound, non-transferable NFT—the Saga genesis token.
This way, Saga owners can be identified and specifically targeted for benefits and rewards, but more importantly, for exclusive Solana airdrops.
The first benefit Saga holders received was the eligibility to mint an exclusive Claynosaurz NFT collection—The Call of Saga. Another highly-coveted benefit was the BONK claim for up to 30 million $BONK, which had an estimated value of $440.
These two benefits alone was enough to recoup your initial investment in the phone.
How?
The price of the Claynosaurz NFTs and BONK rose so much that their combined value was higher than the purchasing price of the Saga itself.
Once people caught on, there was a run on the device that caused all 20,000 units to sell out in a couple hours.
The success of these Saga-specific rewards spawned a new use case: digital assets airdrops for genesis token holders.
Access Protocol airdropped tokens to genesis token holders and many other teams are considering and crafting campaigns to involve Saga holders in future airdrops.
The second-order effect?
Saga devices have been selling for 3–4 times more than the original retail price on secondary markets, such as eBay, as people desperately try to get in on future airdrops.
How to use Phantom on Saga?
Phantom is available on Google Play and can be downloaded on the Saga dApp Store.
If you already have a Phantom wallet, you can easily set it up on Saga as well. If you bought a Saga and are new to Solana—download the Phantom mobile app and follow the setup instructions.
If you’d like to fund your Phantom wallet, you can do so via the “Buy” button on your asset tab. We offer various funding options, such as MoonPay, PayPal, and Robinhood to make it easy for you to fund your wallet.
Once you do that, you're ready to go.
How to bridge tokens to Solana with Phantom?
If this is your first time using Solana, you might have most of your assets on other blockchains, such as Ethereum and Polygon. With our Cross-Chain Swapper, you can bridge tokens across Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon right in your Phantom wallet.
Disclaimer: This guide is strictly for educational purposes only and doesn’t constitute financial or legal advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.
