Built-in private key is a feature of the new Samsung Galaxy S10
Samsung dropped a new range of smartphones of Wednesday, and while the Galaxy Fold grabbed the headlines with its near-$2,000 price tag, the company’s flagship phone did not go unnoticed, especially among the crypto community.
On Wednesday, the South Korean multinational said its new S10 Galaxy smartphone would include a feature to store and guard bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.55%and other cryptocurrencies.
Earlier in the year, leaked photos suggested the device would include some sort of crypto-related feature, but on Wednesday the company confirmed that the new S10 Galaxy would protect a user’s digital currency with its built-in private key.
“Security: Galaxy S10 is built with defense-grade Samsung Knox, as well as a secure storage backed by hardware, which houses your private keys for blockchain-enabled mobile services,” the company said in a press release.
After Samsung dropped the news of the private-key feature, one crypto analyst said it’s time for Samsung rival Apple AAPL, -0.56% to step up its game, tweeting: “Apple has a lot of work to do now. Some next level stuff by Samsung including crypto private key storage.”
Shares of Samsung 005930, +0.43% SSNLF, -3.07% rose 0.1% on Thursday in South Korean trading and are now up 21% in 2019.
The new Galaxy S10 is slated to hit store shelves on April 26 and cost $899.99.