Within the first 30 hours of its announcement, the Solana Mobile Chapter 2 smartphone broke the 1-year sales records of its predecessor, the Solana Mobile Saga, in an unexpected and unprecedented buying frenzy.
The smartphone, which will ship in 2025, recorded 25,000 preorders in the first 24 hours, eclipsing that of the Solana Mobile Saga by a significant margin. Sales records for the Solana Mobile Saga suggest that at the 30-hour mark, preorders for the Solana Chapter 2 had already eclipsed its total sales in its first year.
The unprecedented success of the Solana Chapter 2 sounds even more unbelievable, considering there are no Solana Mobile tech specs for now. All we know about the phone is its price and name, making the preorder rush confusing for even keen observers.
Why the Solana Mobile First Effort Flopped
Chapter 2 is a second effort at a smartphone. Solana Labs co-founder and president, Raj Gokal, admitted conservative sales expectations for Chapter 2 to TechCrunch on January 18, only to wake up to unprecedented sales figures.
The Solana Mobile Saga flop was through no fault of its own. The phone featured a massive 6.67-inch OLED screen with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage, making it among the best Android phones on the market back then. For context, the Samsung S22 only comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
The Saga rocked a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, not bad for a 2022 flagship phone. Its 4,100 mAh battery was good enough, with the only out-of-date component being the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner; most modern phones have one on the screen.
With its impressive specs, the Solana retailed for $1,000, undercutting some market leaders like the Apple iPhone 13 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Despite its low price, impressive specs, and touted crypto capabilities, the phone failed woefully, with Solana only ever producing 20,000 units.
Despite already having a relatively fair price for its specs, Solana Mobile had to lower the price to $599 after it became apparent that it underestimated public interest in a “crypto phone.” The phone never received critical acclaim from the tech community. Most tech reviewers, notably MKBHD, criticized it for trying to fill an unnecessary gap.
Why the Second Attempt Did Better
Shortly after the announcement of the second smartphone, it became apparent that the company had miscalculated public interest in its phone once again, but this time, positively. With relatively modest expectations due to the Saga failure, Solana Mobile priced its upcoming phone at a low $450 while lowering its sales projections.
In a wholesome turn of events, cryptocurrency enthusiasts rapidly started submitting so many preorders that the president at Solana had to admit his surprise. Preorders (paid) took off within 30 hours, making it a massive success even before its release.
No one knows much about this smartphone. There is no indication of internal specs or even how the phone would look, just the name, a price tag, and a confirmation of the exclusion of the Saga Genesis token.
What Should You Expect?
With such an incredibly successful preordering round, Solana Mobile will proceed with designing and releasing the Solana Mobile Chapter 2. According to information from the preorder page, the product should ship by the first half of next year, although even that is subject to change.
Given the low manufacturing capabilities of Solana Mobile, Chapter 2 will likely be delayed, with only select customers getting their orders by the first half of next year. Most orders will have to wait until the second half, but early adopters likely understood what they were getting into.
However, the Solana Mobile Chapter 2 may not be a top performer. While its predecessor had a class-leading processor with excessive RAM and sufficient internal storage, it also started at $1,000. For only $450, it’s unlikely that Solana Mobile will deliver something even remotely similar.
