The luxury brand that charges five-figures for a smartphone is shutting down

Times are bad for luxury smartphone maker, Vertu. The UK-based company famed for making handcrafted smartphones is shutting down. Designed for the ultra-rich, these Vertu smartphones are often sold between £10,000 to £280,000 (about RM1.5 million) depending on how much exotic leather, titanium, gold and diamonds are being used.

The news comes as a surprise as it recently had signed an agreement to use TCL’s tech on their future phones.

According to The Telegraph, the financially troubled Vertu will be liquidated and this will cost 200 jobs. However, there’s a small chance of a revival as its current owner, Murat Hakan Uzan is said to be retaining its branding, technology and licenses.

Vertu was initially founded as Nokia’s luxury arm back in 1998. It had a long history of making handcrafted feature phones with the finest materials. While their phones are often a step back in hardware compared to other mainstream brands, Vertu comes with a real life personal assistant which puts your Siri and Google Now to shame. At a push of a button, Vertu’s 24-hour concierge service is ready to help you from reserving a table at an exclusive club to booking a business flight.

As technology is evolving at a fast pace, most billionaires probably realise that ploughing five-figures for a blinged up smartphone isn’t a great idea.

[ SOURCE 2 ]