After Saga, a new concept in the DePIN field, "Cloud Phone", is here

Last year, the DePIN narrative made Helium (Mobile) popular. Although DePIN seemed inconspicuous in the Bitcoin bull market, it still brought surprises to the encryption industry. At the recent ETHDenver 2024 conference, DePIN was listed as a hot track, and now the success of io.net has once again stirred up the DePIN narrative.

There are many projects in the DePIN field. The previous huge airdrop of 30 million BONK allowed Saga to successfully break out of the circle. The value of airdrops exceeds the selling price of the phone itself, making previously unattended encrypted phones “hard to find” and even raising the already expensive retail price.

However, the purpose and functions of encrypted mobile phones have not yet been fully explored, and a new concept has emerged - cloud mobile phones.

New concept in DePin field: cloud mobile phone

APhone claims to be the first decentralized cloud-based smartphone, launched on Solana. According to the official website, APhone can achieve seamless integration with its own processing power, storage capacity and GPU, and provide continuous, high-performance access.

Additionally, powered by Aethirs cutting-edge decentralized cloud technology, APhone ensures greater security, privacy, and user protection. At the same time, it offers countless smartphone features in a single device, providing a comprehensive and advanced mobile experience.

The total supply of PHONE, the application token of the APhone ecosystem, is 210 billion, 85% of which is owned by the community treasury. Currently, APhone has launched a points program, and points will be converted into PHONE tokens.

PHONE tokens will give holders voting rights in the APhone DAO that governs the platform. In addition to governance, you must pay through PHONE to pre-install APhone, and holding a certain number of PHONE tokens unlocks special access and customization.

APhone aims to be the ultimate gateway for approved web3 applications, such as the App Store on the iPhone. APhonesdocumentThe specific operating mechanism principles are introduced in detail, but for now, its usage experience is similar to using a computer to simulate the mobile phone operating interface, and it is still an abstract concept.

Encrypted phones are making a comeback

In the field of DePIN, crypto phone is more familiar than “cloud phone”. Especially the Saga mobile phone launched by Solana not long ago was sold out in anticipation of the airdrop, and even Solana co-founder Anatoly himself is using it.

Cryptophones are designed with a greater emphasis on blockchain, cryptocurrency, and decentralized applications than regular iPhones or Android phones. The most common features are enhanced security to protect your passwords and private keys, while some can run full Bitcoin nodes and even be used for mining.

HTC opens the door to encrypted mobile phones

In fact, the origins of cryptophones can be traced back to 2019, when HTC collaborated with Binance to release a limited edition Exodus 1 phone. Subsequently, HTC launched its second blockchain phone, Exodus 1s.

The Exodus 1 S is a significantly streamlined version of the Exodus 1, priced at $244, with a built-in Zion hardware wallet that allows users to store and send Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and other ERC-20 tokens based on the Ethereum blockchain. currency. Best of all, Exodus 1s are capable of functioning as full Bitcoin nodes on their own, meaning they can validate and execute transactions on the device itself without relying on other services.

The problem is that in order to run a node, the Exodus 1 must be kept plugged in and connected to a Wi-Fi network to do so, essentially making it useless as a smartphone. Furthermore, the dapps provided by Exodus 1 s are of almost no use.

Not only can the advantages of being an encrypted phone not be reflected, according to an article by decryptarticleAs introduced in , the advantage of Exodus 1s as an ordinary smartphone is only its long battery life, but its disadvantages are more obvious. It uses a lightweight plastic structure that feels cheap. The underlying specifications use a low-end Snapdragon 435 processor, and there is only one 13 MP rear camera.

But the emergence of Exodus 1s has undoubtedly opened the door to the field of encrypted mobile phones.

In the same year, Samsung launched the encrypted phone Galaxy S 10, priced at US$899. Not only has the performance and appearance of the smartphone been improved, as a crypto phone, the Galaxy S 10 can support dozens of currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, LEO tokens, Chainlink, and more. Meanwhile, the dapp lineup includes gaming, social media, and financial applications, among others. Thanks to the Snapdragon 855 processor, the Galaxy S 10 also has its own trusted execution environment. Subsequently, Samsung collaborated with Kakao to release a blockchain version of KlaytnPhone and named it Galaxy Note 10.

In addition to Samsung, there are also Finney (priced at $999), an encryption phone that activates the wallet by sliding, launched by Sirin Labs, modular phone Pundi XPhone, and the cheapest encryption phone Electroneum M 1 (priced at $80).

Saga’s huge airdrop leads a new way to play crypto phones

Expensive prices and a half-baked experience prevented early attempts at encrypted phones from gaining any meaningful traction, but Solanas Sage phone did.

In July 2022, Solana released the web3 flagship Android phone Saga. At that time, the market was in a bear market, and there were no positive factors in the field of encrypted mobile phones. Most users were not willing to spend $1,000 to buy Saga. Therefore, Sagas early sales were slow, with about 20-30 units sold per day, still far from the target of 20,000 units. Even after slashing the price by 40% from $1,000 to $599 in August 2023, the phone has struggled to attract buyers.

However, the most important thing is that Saga airdropped 30 million BONK tokens to every mobile phone owner. In November 2023, BONK broke through the resistance level and continued to surge, causing the value of the airdrop to exceed the cost of the phone itself, and Sagas fortunes changed.

Demand for Saga phones surged significantly, until December 15, 2023, when all 15,000 Solana Saga phones were sold out in one day. The craze surrounding mobile phones was at its peak. This encrypted phone, which no one paid attention to when it was originally dropped to $599, is being resold on secondary markets such as eBay for as much as $5,000.

After the phone sold out, the hype surrounding the Solana Saga phone further amplified, with various projects announcing a series of additional rewards for Saga phone users, such as Access Protocol distributing 100,000 ACS tokens, Saga Monkes airdropping 8505 NFTs, and Solana meme Project Samoyedcoin also airdropped 1,250 SAMO tokens, and there are many projects such as Solend dedicated to airdropping tokens to Saga owners, while others like Helium offer benefits such as a one-month free trial of Helium Mobile.

It is reported that Solana will launch a second-generation encrypted phone in the first half of 2025, with a tentative price of $450. Currently, many projects, including Solend, Helius, Chads and Solcial, have announced airdrops, benefits and giveaways for Saga 2 owners. .

The success of the first generation allowed Saga 2 to achieve 100,000 pre-sales in just 30 days after its release, and other crypto projects began to launch their own crypto phones. Among them, Aptos announced that it is partnering with Jambo Technology to launch JamboPhone, specially designed for Generation Z users in emerging markets in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

What are the opportunities for encrypted phones?

The success of Saga can be said to be the economic stimulus that the airdrop is expected to bring. After all, from the perspective of encrypted mobile phone development itself, even by 2024, the blockchain infrastructure is still in the early stages of development, and the building blocks for developing high-performance encrypted mobile phones do not seem to be exist.

To this day, there is still a lack of interesting applications in the DeFi user experience and ecosystem, let alone the app stores on encrypted phones 6 or 7 years ago? In addition to offering a limited selection of apps, crypto phones are quite expensive compared to other regular smartphones on the market, and lack practical tools for daily use of cryptocurrencies. Consumers are finding a lot of demand in the crypto phone market.

However, as internet access expands around the world, people are increasingly conducting cryptocurrency and traditional financial transactions on their smartphones. Access to the DeFi ecosystem through affordable mobile phones will create the opportunity to attract billions of dollars into the cryptocurrency space. Additionally, crypto-native mobile and app stores will give developers access to thousands of DeFi power users and enable them to innovate freely without facing the opaque guidelines and fees associated with marketplaces like the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. challenge.

In the long term, one can view cryptophones as tools that prioritize cryptographic values ​​such as freedom, self-custody, and privacy, ensuring users have control over their assets and digital rights. In this case, an encrypted phone comes with a built-in secure enclave, similar to a vault inside the phone, that stores private keys securely and isolated from other activity on the phone.

One day in the future, we may look back at the BONK airdrop and how this event triggered a shift in power dynamics in the tech industry. Perhaps, cryptophones can actually bring cryptocurrencies into the mainstream, but only time will tell.