The team behind Solana has been forced to cancel a portion of orders for the Saga blockchain smartphones due to ‘inventory problems’ at a third-party distributor.
Last week, we saw an overwhelming demand for Saga, with sellouts in both the US & EU on our limited inventory of 20,000 devices produced globally.
In working to fulfill orders, we learned of an inventory management issue with our third-party distributor that resulted in an…
— Solana Mobile ? (@solanamobile) December 22, 2023
According to the statement, the surge in demand for the devices exhausted the 20,000-unit reserve allocated for the US and European markets. Solana did not have a precise picture of stock levels. There is no prospect of replenishing them quickly.
The selling price of the smartphone on eBay jumped to $5,500, although just a few days earlier most trades were settled at under $3,000.
The rejection of some Saga orders was also driven by suspected speculative intent among buyers.
The smartphone was introduced in June 2022. The device’s hardware and software integrate Web3 features, enabling it to function as a hardware wallet. Saga also offers a range of other benefits, including a month of free access to the Helium wireless network, bonuses in the Honeyland game, early access to the Genopets project, and NFT.
Earlier in December, Solana founder Anatoly Yakovenko acknowledged weak smartphone sales. He said that at the time of the product’s launch, 2,200 units had been sold.
The surge in demand is believed to be linked to the distribution of BONK meme tokens. A buyer automatically receives 30 million BONK coins with Saga.
At its peak on December 15, the BONK assets price (CoinGecko) exceeded $900. Even at current quotes (~$0.00002), the tokens roughly cover the $599 price of the smartphone.
In December, Circle added Solana blockchain support for its euro-stablecoin EURC, and hardware-wallet maker Trezor for the SOL token.
In December, Circle added Solana blockchain support for its euro-stablecoin EURC, and hardware-wallet maker Trezor for the SOL token.
In December, Circle added Solana blockchain support for its euro-stablecoin EURC, and hardware-wallet maker Trezor for the SOL token.
In December, Circle added NFT.