Whilst almost everyone has a mobile or a smartphone, only a very few combine that ownership with the unique indulgence achieved by the world’s leading, luxury phone providers. We take a glimpse at the to-die-for digital designs that may be the very last word in conspicuous communication.
With classic British understatement, a sharp eye for contemporary design and the very finest materials and most dedicated craftsmanship, Vertu supply a range of luxury phones and cases that are unmistakably the mark of the elite.
The Vertu proposition is elegantly simple. It follows the rationale that if a timepiece can be made exquisite and remarkable, then the same holds true for what they refer to – with all due formality – as “a mobile communication instrument”.
Handmade in England, and signed by the individual technician responsible for its painstakingly handcrafted assembly, each Vertu piece is a dedication to refinement. A suite of personalising features enables each and every purchaser to enjoy a truly one-off original. Whilst Vertu’s retrained design ethos is remarkable in itself, the option to craft original designs to order is integral to a sales process that is every bit as best online casino polished as its products are lavish.
Even more extravagantly, Alexander Amosu has been commissioned to create a solid gold iPhone 6 body, fully encrusted with 6,127 diamonds. The “Amosu Call of Diamond iPhone 6” is intended for sale at a cool £1.7million. For those who might see this as a touch extravagant, the Amosu 24-carat Gold iPhone 6 is available at an off-peak rate of £2,399.
Not that Amosu is a dedicated iPhone man. The Nigerian designer has also produced the world’s most expensive diamond-encrusted BlackBerry. The realisation of Amosu’s vision required £125,000 worth of painstaking craftsmanship in solid 18-carat yellow gold, encrusted with 4,459 brilliant cut diamonds (weighing 28.43 carats). Only three have ever been made.
For many, the opportunity to capture such riches via a mobile would be the chance in a million provided by the likes of Supercasino online. But the appetite of such quick and easy wealth is markedly out of step with the ostentation conveyed by Amosu’s provocatively extravagant designs.
It is, however, perfectly in keeping with Gresso’s Luxor Las Vegas Jackpot. Gresso’s phone dated from 2005 and is already expensively obsolete. Its body was made of solid gold, weighing 180 grams, whilst the back panel was made from 200-year-old African hardwood, said to be the most expensive wood in the world. It cost a cool $1 million in 2005, but for all that expense, its sapphire-encrusted keypad looks horribly dated in 2014.
Therein lies the lesson of gilding telephonic technology in this way. Beautiful as some – but certainly not all – such designs may be, they are entirely at the mercy of our technologically fast-paced times. For all the diamonds, gold, artistry and painstaking craftsmanship in the world, there is only so long that such accoutrements will carry their cachet.