The world of high fashion and luxury has seen its fair share of opulent smartphones. The Porsche Edition BlackBerry phones were quite the envy assets not long ago, and so were the bespoke pieces from Vertu , TAG Heuer, Prada, and Dior. Caviar has been carrying the mantle in the modern age, making decadent versions of Apple and Samsung smartphones that use everything from alligator leather and python skin to diamond and meteorite fragments.
The latest from the brand is a triple-folding Huawei Mate XT covered in 24-carat gold. Caviar calls it Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design Gold Dragon, a fittingly lavish name for a device that costs $18,200 for the 1TB edition. If, however, you are hunting for some bargain on your lavish smartphone indulgence, the 2156GB storage version will only pull $17, 340 from your wallet.
For that sum, you get a phone covered from head to toe in 24K gold, the purest form of the yellow metal available for making jewelry and other ritzy endeavors. It’s a shame that there are no crystals on this one, given the brand’s history. “An exquisite texture of imperial swords crafted in Longquan is reproduced on the gold surface,” defends Caviar’s sales pitch.
Seems like history is the prized asset here. The patterns, claims the brand, are inspired by the Longquan swords of the Ming Dynasty while the dragon in the name signifies luck and property. The Longquan sword is a cultural heritage in China, and its history is associated with master swordsmith, Ou Ye.