Anatoly Yakovenko, the co-founder of Solana Labs, addressed the lackluster sales of his company’s smartphone in an interview with Unchained Crypto on December 5.
The company debuted the Saga Android smartphone in June 2022, and it was made available for purchase in 2023. The company wanted to give customers a web3-specific device. In particular, it pledged to create an app store independent of Google and Apple’s app stores in order to get around those companies’ stringent cryptocurrency regulations.
Host Laura Shin emphasized Saga’s “underwhelming” sales during the interview, pointing out that just 2,500 phones have been sold.
Yakovenko noted encouraging comments despite the low sales, saying:
Yakovenko continued, saying that Solana thought it would take 25,000 to 50,000 sales for other developers to feel pressured to release applications.
Uncertain future
Regarding Solana’s future plans for mobile devices, Yakovenko hinted that there may not be as much demand for them. He mentioned that the need for specialized devices and apps has decreased since the middle of 2022 thanks to progressive web apps.
About upcoming Solana gadgets, he stated:
In November, the security company CertiK disclosed a purported vulnerability in Saga, on which Shin also offered his thoughts. Refuting any vulnerability, Yakovenko said that the security company had rooted the phone and shown off a compromised Bitcoin wallet. Given that the Solana stack “does not support Bitcoin,” he hinted that this finding was only partially relevant.
