Can the Solana Phone Disrupt the Phone Industry? An Insider's Look

Are Crypto Phones the Future?

The Solana Phone announcement rattled the crypto world last month, promising to put the power of decentralization and Web3 in users' pockets. 

Anatoly Yakovenko, the co-founder of Solana, introduced Saga at an event in New York on June 23. The event also presented the Solana Mobile Stack (SMS), a framework for Android allowing devs to create native mobile experiences for wallets and apps built on Solana.

The flagship-quality Android phone is available for pre-order at a hefty $1,000 and is planned to ship by Q1 2023. But the more significant move might be the launch of SMS—and Saga, a way to convince devs to use SMS and show off the better user experience of having native dApps.

Interview With Delivery Lead for Saga and SMS

Web3Wire News reached out to Emmett Hollyer, the Delivery Lead for Saga and SMS, to learn more about the phone and software kit that could usher in a new age of crypto phones and apps. 

Q1. What are the implications of SMS and Saga for Solana and the crypto space?

Emmett: “Everything we do today happens through our mobile phones – except Web3. Of all things, Web3 should be mobile-first, but we shouldn’t make compromises to do so. The Solana Mobile Stack opens an era of mobility for Web3 that hasn’t been possible yet.”

Q2. What are the implications of SMS and Saga for the phone industry?

Emmett: “Developers right now have to build around Apple and Google due to their fee structures and opaque approval process. If developers building decentralized apps can’t innovate, it prevents broader adoption of blockchain and digital assets, it stifles innovation, and, ultimately, hurts consumers. 

Solana Mobile Stack begins a new era of Web3 with a mobile-first Android platform, while Saga showcases innovations needed to bring Web3 to billions of mobile users with a flagship Android phone from Solana Mobile.” 

Q3. What's it like for Solana devs to work on this?

Emmett: “Development on SMS and Saga should be easier than currently designing Web3 mobile apps for an ecosystem that doesn’t currently accommodate Web3.”  

Q4. Does Saga/SMS present opportunities for other L1s, or is it more of a threat?

Emmett: “Solana is an open-source platform, and anyone can contribute. SMS and the dev kit for Saga are optimized for Solana, but we would love for other ecosystems in Web3 to participate.”

Q5. What are the short-term and long-term objectives for Saga/SMS?

Emmett: “The SMS dev kit is available now, and pre-orders are available now for the Saga dev kit. So, the opportunity right now is for developers to build features and experiences that take advantage of a native capability to do Web3 transactions on mobile, to carry digital assets around anywhere, and an ability to tie mobile payments capabilities to Web3 payments rails. 

During the next decade, billions of people will use crypto and become more comfortable with transacting on-chain and holding their own keys. Those assets and interactions will increasingly happen through our mobile devices, and we’re trying to usher that into reality.” 

Mixed Feelings

The community received Saga and the SMS SDK with mixed reactions. 

In its latest episode, the well-known crypto podcast Bankless said that a blockchain having its own phone “seems like a massive distraction” and “feels weird,” questioning why Solana entered the hardware game when blockchains are software. 

Nevertheless, a big part of the community seems excited about what might be coming with Solana Mobile and has already responded to the podcast's comments. 

Additionally, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried said in a recent interview with Real Vision that Web3 native phones are the future.

“Right now, if you want to use a DeFi app on your phone, to say it's difficult is an understatement. But most of the world uses their mobile phone. So going to the point where you have [i.e.] a seamless wallet experience on mobile is a huge leap forward,” the prominent entrepreneur explained.

Whether Solana will fail or not in bridging Web3 and phones, users are waiting to have a more robust mobile experience. This is particularly true as companies like Apple and Google are lagging on crypto; their app store policies haven’t embraced it and custody solutions on phones haven’t materialized.