Vertu’s Luxury Web3 phone tops out at $41,000
by James · October 24, 2022
At an event in London today, smartphone maker Vertu revealed its latest device, the Metavertu – a “Web3 phone” that can run its own blockchain node and turn photos and videos into NFTs with a single click.
The device itself is unapologetically aimed at the higher end of the market. All models have a ceramic frame and Vertu’s signature sapphire glass display, powered by a Qualcomm SnapDragon 8 Gen 1 CPU. A 6.67-inch, 2400×1080 AMOLED display, triple-lens camera and a 4600 mAh battery round out the standard spec list.
The entry-level model comes with a carbon fiber finish, 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage and a price tag of $3,600. The top model, meanwhile, has 18GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, and comes wrapped in ‘Himalaya Alligator leather’, 18K gold and diamonds. The price? A staggering $41,000.
Vertu’s new luxury audience
Still, if you’ve lost a million dollars on a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT, that’s relatively tame.
This is presumably what Vertu is betting on. The smartphone maker previously sold smartphones with mid-range specs and exorbitantly expensive finishes to luxury consumers (it went bankrupt in 2017 and went through a series of owners before relaunching in 2018).
These days the jet set has moved on to the exciting world of Web3, NFTs and the metaverse, with the emergence of a crypto Nouveau Riche for whom CryptoPunks and Azuki NFTs are the new Burberry and Louis Vuitton.
But the problem with Web3, Vertu CEO Gary Chan said at the phone’s launch event in London, is that its complexity is a turn-off for new users. “We want to reinvent the smartphone to decomplicate Web3,” he said.
One-click Web3
With that in mind, Metavertu can switch between Web2 mode – the standard Android operating system seen on most smartphones – to Web3 mode. Users can create a wallet in a few clicks, with private keys protected by the phone’s Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), and access a suite of decentralized applications (dapps) through a user-friendly Android-style interface.
These dapps include VOS, which allows the phone to be used as a “”validator, a light node and a light client” on Ethereum blockchain, according to a Vertu spokesperson. Another dapp, Vshot, enables the user to create an NFT with one click from a photo or video.
The phone also includes Vtalk, an encrypted peer-to-peer instant messaging app that “integrates decentralized social network” features including DAOs, according to Chan.
On top of that, users get access to 10 terabytes of distributed storage on IPFS, as well as access to Vertu’s “red button” 24/7 concierge service. Even that service has been updated to reflect the Web3 world. “We have a dedicated NFT investment team to help our users better understand NFTs quickly,” Chan said, which includes guiding newcomers through the process of collecting non-fungible tokens and advising them on upcoming collections is worth picking up.
The Metavertu will go on sale from November 3 via the Vertu website, as well as its brick-and-mortar stores, including a new location on London’s Bond Street opening later this year.
