Key Insights:

• Solana has developed a Web3 software suite for Android.

• The Saga crypto phone will be launched in Q1, 2023.

• The device will facilitate secure crypto transactions and storage.

The Solana Mobile Stack, unveiled on June 23, will enable more Web3 decentralized applications (dapps) for Android mobile platforms. Solana Mobile Stack is a software ecosystem for Android, but the firm also intends to launch its own Android smartphone called Saga.

The self-branded smartphone is a first from a crypto company. It is designed to make dealings with digital assets more secure than on regular devices, which are often hacked or exploited. According to the announcement at a keynote in New York this week, Solana Saga is a high specification, 6.67-inch Android smartphone expected to launch in the first quarter of 2023 for around $1,000.

Web3 to Mobile

Anatoly Yakovenko, the co-founder of Solana, said that developers had been blocked from creating truly decentralized mobile apps because the “gatekeeper model” doesn’t work anymore. Leading operating systems from Google and Apple remain tightly controlled by the corporations and device manufacturers.

“We live our lives on our mobile devices – except for web3 because there hasn’t been a mobile-centric approach to private key management.”

The Solana Mobile Stack (SMS) offers an open-source, secure, optimized for web3, and an easy-to-use path forward, he added.

The SMS software kit will enable the development of native Android apps built on the Solana blockchain. It includes a Mobile Wallet Adapter, which enables Solana wallets to be plugged in and integrated, and the feature will work on all mobile devices, according to the announcement.

A feature called Seed Vault will provide a custody solution to keep private keys and crypto seed phrases secure on Android devices.

Solana Pay for Android is another feature that introduces payment rails and crypto wallet capabilities. There will also be a Solana dApp Store which will work together with Google Play Store to provide a marketplace for Web2 and Web3 apps.

Solana, which has often been dubbed an ‘Ethereum killer,’ is not without its centralization concerns, however. Just a handful of validators have the power to shut down the network if they need to. Additionally, the network has been plagued with reliability issues over the past year, with at least seven full or partial outages since September, according to its uptime tracker.