Top 5 Most Expensive Mobile Phones in the World

Until recently, the vastmajority of mobile phones had been priced between £100 and £300, with onlyVertu, a division of Nokia, manufacturing uber-premium phones. With pricesstarting at around £4,000 Vertu phones are only for the filthy rich, and thesuper famous.

However, Vertu’s monopoly of the luxury phone market is coming to an end withthe launch of several new luxury mobile makers, including Gresso, Mobiado andGoldVish. Other mobile phone manufacturers are also partnering with luxurybrands to produce a range of premium mobile phones, such as LG and Prada,D&G and Motorola, and now Tag Heuer and Modelabs. Finally, there are theridiculous, super-expensive one-offs, made purely for headline grabbing, suchas Goldvish’s “Le million”, worth a cool $1,000,000, see below for details!

1. Goldvish “Le million” = $1,000,000 (£540,540)

A PR stunt it may be, and they surely can’t be expecting to sell any, but theGoldvish “Le million” is officially the most expensive mobile phone in theworld, according the Guiness Books of Records. There’s even been talk of a$1.3million phone, but this has fewer diamonds than the Goldvish so I can’t seewhere the extra expense comes from! The “Le million” is a one off, featuring ablinding 120 carats worth of VVS-1 grade diamonds, according to designerEmmanuel Gueit. If $1 million is out of your price range. the Geneva-based Goldvishalso offer several other diamond-encrusted 18k gold models in your choice ofrose, yellow, or white, starting at a much more reasonable $25,600 (£13,837).

2. Vertu Signature Cobra = $310,000 (£167,567)

Vertu is now taking orders for the Signature Cobra, designed by French jewelerBoucheron, but you had better be quick as only 8 are being made! The Cobra willfeature one pear-cut diamond, one round white diamond, two emerald eyes and 439rubies. Vertu will also be offering a “cheaper” version, ruby free, at $115,000(£62,162).

3. Sony Ericsson Black Diamond = $300,000 (£162,162)

Apparently the Black Diamond will be available in 2007, not from Sony Ericssonbut by a company called VIPN. Initially only 5 unique numered pieces will beavailable for the unbelievable price of, wait for it… $300,000.

With regards to the specifications, don’t expect anything remarkable for yourmoney. It will have Quad-band with Wi-Fi, an Intel 400Mhz processor runningwindows mobile 5, and a touch sensitive 2″ screen. It will also includeinternal memory of 128mb and will come with a 2Gb SD card for external storage,plus a respectable 4 Megapixel camera.

The designer Jaren Goh has used some pretty impressive materials for the build,featuring titane with polycarbonate, mirror-finish cladding and diamonds.

4. Vertu Signature Diamond = $88,000 (£47,567)

The Diamond is Vertu’s premium range of high-end mobile phones. As the namesuggests the handsets in the Diamond range are diamond-encrusted handsets madefrom platinum. Only 200 of the handsets are being produced, the most expensivebelieved to be worth an estimated £50,000.

5. Motorola V220 Special Edition = £28,000 ($51,800)

Austrian designer Peter Aloisson, has taken a standard Motorola, studded itwith 1,200 diamonds and added a keyboard inlaid with 18 carat gold. The outcomeis a £28,000 handset, suitable only for footballers and film stars!