Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhone 5 costing $15.3 million. Yes, don’t bother of winking your eyes again and again, you have read it correctly.
Stuart Hughes, a Liverpool-based jeweler, has an iPhone fitted with gold and diamonds and is worth $15.3 million. Earlier, the jeweler has designed iPhone 4 with diamonds, Platinum MacBook Air and Gold iPad 2 along with a Fiat 500 worth $655,000.
A Chinese businessman is the proud owner of this marvelous and eye-catching device. The businessman called “Joe” met the designer Stuart Hughes in Liverpool and commissioned the jeweler to create the wonder piece and presented the diamonds to do so.
The stunning iPhone 5 is handmade and took the jeweler 9 weeks to complete. The outer casing of the unique device is made from 135g of 24-carat gold, and the home button has a 26-carat black diamond, which costs about $14.5 million. The 26-carat black diamond used in the home button has been with Joe’s family for generations and is a rare piece.
The glass is replaced with Sapphire glass, which is used by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for its camera lens. Apple’s logo at the back of the device is made up by 52 diamonds, and 600 white diamonds are used in the edges.
According to Stuart Hughes, “The most difficult part of building the phone was the solid gold chassis.” The internals of the device are unchanged with Dual core Apple A6 chip, PowerVR SGX 543MP3 graphics, 1GB of RAM, 8-megapixel camera and 4-inch retina display.
Apart from Stuart Hughes there are several other companies capable of producing such envious devices for incredibly rich people. One such company is Vertu.
Vertu designs customized and very expensive mobile phones using gold and platinum as well as diamonds and other gemstones for ultra rich users.
For buyers who wish to spend much less and still enjoy a sense of luxury, Hughes offers a 24-carat gold iPhone 5 that starts at just over $4,000 and a rose-gold version of about $5,300.
Apart from the iPhone, other smartphones have also been converted into a luxury, especially by car makers. Last year, BlackBerry revealed a 1,800 Porsche-branded BlackBerry Bold 9900. Lamborghini also showed off a gold and crocodile-skin smartphone last year that was sold for $2,750. Also, fashion accessories maker, Tag Heuer’s Android-based Link had a price tag of $5,000 and Dior designed the haute couture Rêverie Phone for about $120,000.
