Solana Mobile ‘Chapter 2’ Airdrops Surpass Pre-order Cost Temporarily

A unique turn of events unfolded for pre-order holders of Solana’s ‘Chapter 2’ mobile phone, as airdrops from two cat-themed memecoins briefly surpassed the phone’s pre-order value.

In April, purchasers of the new Chapter 2 device, initially priced at $450, found themselves unexpectedly benefiting from airdrops by two cat-themed memecoin projects: Cat in a dog’s world (MEW) and Maneki (MANEKI).

MEW’s team airdropped 37,600 tokens per holder on April 1, valued at $334 at its peak post-airdrop price of $0.0089. Similarly, MANEKI distributed 5,199 tokens per holder on April 24, reaching a peak price of $0.269 on April 25.

Combined with other memecoin airdrops like Wuffi (WUFFI), which provided 114,000 tokens to Chapter 2 wallets, holders could have earned $480, surpassing the phone’s cost and yielding an additional $30 profit, according to twoloot.com, an airdrop value checker.

Although the memecoins’ value has since declined, with MEW now at $220 and MANEKI at $124, pre-order buyers had the advantage of accessing these tokens before receiving their phones by linking a Solana wallet address during purchase.

Notably, owners of Solana’s previous mobile device, the “Saga,” also received the same amount of Maneki tokens in their wallets.

The initial release of the Solana Saga in May 2023 faced criticism for technical glitches and usability concerns. However, sales picked up in December when savvy buyers realized an unexpected opportunity during a memecoin rally for Bonk (BONK).

Between November 15 and December 15, 2023, BONK’s price surged over 1,100%, making the 30,000 BONK airdrop worth more than $1,150—$551 higher than the Saga phone’s original $599 price tag.