During the Unpacked 2022 product showcase event organized by Samsung in February, the new Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone was introduced as the new flagship device of the South Korean electronics giant.
This is probably one of the last models in the Samsung Galaxy series; as can be expected from a flagship smartphone, it is loaded with advanced features that include a proprietary cryptocurrency wallet.
The Samsung Wallet is the company’s answer to competing products such as Apple Pay, but it goes beyond giving users the ability to complete digital payment transactions.
During the presentation, Samsung representatives highlighted the dynamic nature of this wallet, which is protected by the Knox Vault security platform.
Everything from Bitcoin to credit cards and from passwords to vaccine records can be stored in the new Samsung Wallet, which keeps content secure with an encryption scheme able to function separately from the Android operating system.
In essence, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the latest in the technology segment of blockchain smartphones, which some people refer to as “crypto-centric” mobile devices.
What Samsung is trying to accomplish is new insofar as integrating digital currencies with the general payment system; this is something that the Apple Wallet has not been able to deliver thus far, but the S22 Ultra is hardly the first blockchain smartphone on the market.
The history of blockchain-enabled mobile devices dates back to 2018, and it includes another Samsung smartphone: the groundbreaking Samsung Galaxy S10.
We can also add the HTC Exodus and the Electroneum M1 to this list of early crypto-centric smartphones that provide far more security than your average digital wallet mobile app.
To a great extent, this is part of a trend that will likely become a new standard of truly secure cryptocurrency storage.
Trusted Execution Environments Within Mobile Devices
A blockchain smartphone can be defined as a device that provides excellent security to keep Bitcoin and other digital currency tokens safer than in other storage solutions.
This entails what is known as a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) that can access the hardware layer independently from the operating system. Should the operating system become compromised for any reason, the TEE functionality will allow users of crytpo-centric smartphones to securely access their Bitcoin tokens or any other items stored in the wallet. Even if hackers are able to pull off a rootkit attack on an Android device, the TEE architecture will keep the wallet and all its contents safe.
In other words, TEE features can make your smartphone a hardware wallet for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and many other tokens; however, there is also the added convenience of connectivity and portability, thus making them superior to cold Bitcoin storage solutions such as USB flash drives or the legacy pencil-and-paper route.
It is important to note that the TEE protocol is for mobile devices powered by the Android operating system; on Apple devices such as the iPhone, the feature is called Secure Enclave.
Even though storing your Bitcoin in digital wallets provided by reputable cryptocurrency exchanges is a safe practice, crypto smartphones such as the upcoming Galaxy S22 Ultra will always provide the perfect blend of software and hardware security.
