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World's most expensive phone heading to China at $15 million, bound to raise eyebrows in the Party

By Daniel Petrov

Published: Apr 12, 2013, 9:15 AM

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World's most expensive phone heading to China at $15 million, bound to raise eyebrows in the Party

From the British designer Stuart Hughes, who gave to the world an iPad with an embedded real T-Rex bone, now comes the most expensive phone in the world - a ten million pound sterling (about 15 million USD) iPhone 5 Black Diamond.

Custom-ordered by an unnamed Chinese businessman, the handset is dipped in 26 karat gold, a real black diamond has replaced the home key, and 600 "regular" diamonds have been encrusted in the chassis, 53 of which went to adorn the Apple logo itself. The screen protection has been replaced with sapphire glass, which is much tougher than Gorilla Glass, and it took the designer nine weeks to hand-make the unique phone.

That Chinese customer already owned the black diamond itself, so he's not paying list price, but if we were the Communist Party department in charge with corruption checks there, this phone extravagance would top the weekly report. Unless your name is Terry Gou from Foxconn, that is, who could argue that the iPhone 5 came at assembly price.

source: Macworld.co.uk via Pocket-lint

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena from 2010 to 2025, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.