Samsung launched the KlaytnPhone in South Korea on Thursday, a spinoff of the Galaxy Note 10 equipped with blockchain apps and a cryptocurrency wallet.
It furthers Samsung’s position as the most crypto-friendly smartphone maker, putting it lightyears ahead of rival Apple. Thus far, the company has added blockchain support in a variety of models, integrated cryptocurrency payments into Samsung Pay, and invested in hardware wallet provider Ledger.
Samsung KlaytnPhone: the blockchain smartphone
The KlaytnPhone takes its name from a South Korean blockchain platform, and the phone will come with “Klay” cryptocurrency installed. Users will also have access to blockchain apps, known as dapps, or decentralized apps. Current examples supported by the Samsung blockchain wallet include Lympo – a health and fitness app with its own LYM token.
Samsung has ramped up its focus on nascent cryptocurrency technology this year, announcing a ten-year strategy that heavily features blockchain. Samsung’s blockchain KeyStore is already available on Note 10+, Note 10, Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, S10+ and the S10 5G. The company recently added support for bitcoin.
According to the Wall Street Journal, although Samsung supports blockchain apps on other models, “only the Klaytn edition will boast the blockchain platform’s full breadth of transaction services.”
Where’s Apple?
Samsung is taking meaningful strides into the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. But rival Apple is nowhere to be seen. In fact, the only blockchain action we’ve seen from Apple is the release of a new icon set with four bitcoin logos.
As Viktor Radchenko of TrustWallet told CCN:
“I definitely think Samsung is moving into right direction in terms of crypto adoption. Apple does the opposite, trying to suppress adoption and limits users to functionality and rejects some crypto apps.”
Yet again, the evolution of bitcoin and blockchain technology is taking place in Asia, with US companies at stark risk of being left behind.