Solana Mobile rakes in $70 million in preorders for its second crypto smartphone, the Seeker

The team behind the blockchain's smartphone, raked in $70 million in preorders for its second mobile device, the project said Thursday.

Solana Mobile, the team behind the blockchain’s smartphone, has announced that its second mobile device, dubbed Seeker, has already raked in $70 million in preorders.

The new iteration is already seeing almost five times the level of revenue compared to Solana’s debut crypto phone, the Saga, despite the fact that the Seeker isn’t expected to hit the market until the summer of 2025.

So, what is driving the demand for Solana’s second crypto phone? According to Emmett Hollyer, general manager of Solana Mobile, more than half of the order volume is coming from Asia-Pacific countries, a region in which Solana Mobile was previously unable to sell phones.

“Last year with Saga, we had this huge groundswell of support from the crypto community, and we were able to sell out our first batch of phones in a matter of hours,” said Hollyer in an interview with DL News ahead of this week’s Token2049 conference in Singapore.

“But one of the key pieces of feedback that we got was that we needed to expand our reach into new markets,” he added.

Launching a new mobile phone, even one without crypto components, is a daunting task. It’s one of the most regulated industries in the world and already dominated by the likes of Apple and Samsung.

Not only that, but Solana Mobile’s first attempt fell far short of expectations. In 2023, the firm had set out to sell 50,000 units of the Saga phone. In the end, however, Hollyer told DL News that the firm only managed to sell around 20,000 units in total.

“We did hit some roadblocks, especially in the beginning of the year with COVID restrictions and some of the lockdowns that were happening in China, which impacted our production line,” he explained.

“But despite those challenges, we were still able to generate around $20 million in revenue from the Saga phone sales, which we were pretty happy with, especially considering the fact that we were a new company in a new industry.”

So far, at least, the firm’s second attempt is doing much better. While the Saga phone only managed to secure 20,000 preorders, Seeker already has more than 140,000 preorders, according to Hollyer.

It’s not just new markets that are driving this growth, either. According to Hollyer, another factor contributing to the increased demand for Seeker is the strong performance of SOL, the blockchain’s native cryptocurrency, this year.

“We’re seeing a lot of interest from the crypto community, especially with the way that SOL has been performing in the market,” he said.

“SOL is up 27% this year, which is twice better than Ether. So, I think a lot of people are excited about the future of Solana and are looking to get their hands on the latest Solana device.”

Hollyer also told DL News that the new phone comes with a few key changes thanks to user feedback from the Saga phone.

“One of the things that we heard loud and clear from our users, especially in the crypto community, was that they wanted a phone that was lighter, brighter, had a longer battery life, and was cheaper,” he said.

“When Saga first launched, it was priced at $1,000. Four months later, we slashed the price by 40% due to lower-than-expected sales and had to sell the remaining phones at a loss,” explained Hollyer.

“All those things come together on Seeker and are available at a lower price point of $500 and available in more markets. We’re really excited about what we’ve been able to achieve with this new device.”

Of course, the new phone’s crypto components weren’t forgotten in the upgrade either.

The Seed Vault, where users store their crypto seed phrases, has become a slick crypto mobile wallet, and one new feature, for instance, lets users double-tap their screen to sign historically clunky crypto transactions.

Hollyer told DL News that the phone, like its predecessor, will also be a “rewards magnet” for buyers.

“Users who bought the Saga phone were also airdropped the dog-themed memecoin BONK,” he said. “At one point, the amount of BONK included in the phone covered the costs of the phone.”

The Seeker will come with memecoins, too, but today, it’s not nearly enough to cover the device’s costs. Twoloot, which tracks the prices of memecoins included with the phone, shows that users can expect a $250 payout.

“We’re working with our partners to integrate their DePIN networks and token launching platforms with the Solana Mobile Stack,” said Hollyer.

“We believe that these two sectors, in particular, will be

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