Vertu began life as a division of Nokia, charged with making the best smartphones possible, completely free of material constraints. They gained their independence in 2013, and have quickly switched to making luxury Android phones for their wealthy clientèle. They offer designs starting at thousands of pounds, with the chance for well-heeled customers to choose their own customisations and raise the price accordingly.
Their latest phone is the Signature Touch for Bentley, a re-release of their earlier Signature Touch design. The phone costs a whopping £10,300.00 pounds, thanks to its use of top-notch luxury materials: Bentley leather, polished titanium and sapphire for the screen. The phone is hand-made by a single person in Vertu’s London offices, whose signature will adorn the phone’s packaging.
The phone’s internals are respectable too, if not quite in line with the S7 Edge or LG G5. You’ll get a 21-megapixel rear camera, a Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor and Android 5.1 Lollipop on board. This is backed with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage and 64GB of expandable storage. The display is a healthy 5.2 inches at a reasonable 1080p resolution too.
Where the phone really sets itself apart are its features. It starts slow — ring and alert tones performed for Vertu by the London Symphony Orchestra — but quickly ramps up, including a 24-hour concierge service, VIP event packages, a lost phone service and global Wi-Fi.
You can also pick up some hilariously priced accessories with your multi-thousand-pound phone. There’s a leather pouch for £400, a wallet case for £700, a Qi wireless charging pad for £380, a Bluetooth speaker for the same, and headphones for £470.
For normal consumers, Vertu phones are a symbol of senseless excess: why spend thousands on a phone that gets handily outperformed by a £500 flagship? But for the wealthy elite that care little for money, and care a great deal about their reputation, Vertu’s phones offer a way of further distinguishing themselves, both from everyday folk and their fellow upper-crusters, with services keenly adapted to their unusual wealth.
What do you think of Vertu’s offerings? Let us know in the comments below!