HTC’s first blockchain smartphone offering, the HTC Exodus, will start shipping to interested consumers in December 2018, and the company will start accepting pre-orders for the device in October 2018. The handset maker’s chief decentralized officer Phip Chen provided this information, and he further mentioned that HTC is currently fine-tuning the security features of the device. Enhancing the security features of the HTC Exodus is important especially since the handset will serve as a digital wallet for cryptocurrencies. Among the security features of the device is the TrustZone technology from the chip designer ARM. This technology prevents individuals from accessing the digital wallet without using the API developed by the device maker itself. The smartphone will also support Shamir’s secret sharing algorithm. This algorithm divides information into different parts and distributes it to several participants in the blockchain, allowing users to retrieve sensitive data like passwords even if the smartphone is stolen, lost, or becomes inoperable.
HTC first confirmed the HTC Exodus back in May, and it already provided some information about the features and uses of the company’s blockchain smartphone. Aside from serving as a digital wallet, the HTC Exodus could also serve as a vault for sensitive information and it will feature a number of decentralized applications that is supported by a user-friendly and trusted interface. The device maker further states that each Exodus smartphone will serve as a node for Ethereum and Bitcoin, and it will also support the Lightning Network, a payment protocol that supports multiple transactions across different nodes. HTC previously enlisted the help of Charlie Lee, the creator of the Litecoin cryptocurrency, to ensure that the HTC Exodus will remain secure without overcomplicating the blockchain and security technologies incorporated into the smartphone.
There is limited information available about the specifications and pricing of the device. Nonetheless, HTC previously announced that the Exodus smartphone will ship with the Cryptokitties game pre-installed. This mobile game uses non-fungible tokens and it allows users to collect cats that could then be traded with other users. There are also recent reports which state that the Exodus smartphone will feature virtual reality capabilities.