The OKX crypto exchange recently announced a partnership with Jambo, a Web3-enabled smartphone brand. Through this partnership, both the brands are looking to push the Web3-backed digital economy in smartphone-friendly emerging markets. While Web3 and smartphones – both of which make for individually recognised markets in themselves — their integration with each other is a concept that has not been explored quite in depth. With this smartphone, Jambo and OKX are also expecting to compete with the Solana Saga smartphone.
As part of this deal, OKX will integrate its crypto exchange and wallet apps with JamboPhone, which already comes laden with support for Web3 functionalities. The phone is priced at $99 (roughly Rs. 8,230), according to its website.
“By embedding OKX directly within the Jambo ecosystem, we’re making it easy for users in emerging markets to safely and efficiently engage with the digital economy,” said James Zhang, Co-founder of Jambo as commenting on the development.
After securing a $30 million (roughly Rs. 249 crore) Series A funding in 2022, Jambo Technology, which is reportedly an Africa-based tech firm, launched its JamboPhone in March 2024. The phone comes with built-in features to let users play, earn, and store digital assets within its ecosystem. Along with Web3 capabilities, the smartphone comes with a 6.5-inch LCD display, an octa-core T606 chipset, a dual rear camera setup, and runs Android 13.
The smartphone was launched in partnership with blockchain firm, Aptos Foundation. As per the official website of JamboPhone, it is currently available in over 120 countries where OKX is also now looking to expand its business and operations.
For OKX, its venture arm called OKX Ventures is investing an undisclosed amount in Jambo and has officially made an announcement on the same on its X handle, which is has over 123,000 followers.
The partnership also aims to compete with Saga, the Solana-powered smartphone which was unveiled in June 2022. The Saga phone features an inbuilt Seed Vault to safely store all the private keys linked to the device among other Web3 features. It is developed by OSOM, a relatively new tech firm.
3/ Right now, web3 is not made for smartphones, and you need a desktop browser to take full advantage of it.
Solana Mobile Stack is a crypto layer built on Android to make the mobile web3 user experience seamless. https://t.co/jBhmTFGs1f
— Solana (@solana) June 23, 2022
The Saga smartphone comes with a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with full-HD+ resolution (1080×2400 pixels) and a 120Hz refresh rate, a 50-megapixel primary rear camera, rear fingerprint sensor, a ceramic back panel, and titanium accents. It also runs Android 13 out-of-the-box.
