China’s most expensive smartphone is shockingly underpowered

Usually when people talk about Chinese-made smartphones, they’re focused on the low-price-but-high-quality part of the market that Xiaomi, Meizu and other domestic mobile startups have planted their flags in. But here’s something from the other end of the spectrum: a Chinese made smartphone that features and absurdly high price for almost shockingly low specs. Meet the VEB V2.

The VEB V2 is an Android-based 3G smartphone with an external design that seems to be pretty heavily based on the iPhone 4. It comes in three models: the standard model will run you RMB 7,999 (US$1,307), but you can also get an 18K gold inlay version for RMB 37,999 (US$6,211) or a white-gold-and-diamonds version for RMB 49,999 (US$8,137). The latter is, as far as I can tell, China’s most expensive publicly-available smartphone (it’s the most expensive phone on JD and Tmall doesn’t have anything that costs that much either). At RMB 7,999, even the relatively cheap base model still costs more than the brand new iPhone 6 Plus.

So what do you get for all that money? A smartphone with specs that are closer to those seen in the original iPhone. The V2 comes with a Snapdragon S4 processor (remember those from 2012?), 512 MB of RAM, and 4 GB of onboard storage (though that can be expanded with a microSD card). It has screen resolution of 480×800, so you won’t be using it to watch any HD movies or shows. Granted, it does boast some advanced security features and encryption, but for such an expensive handset, most people would expect more. A lot more.

And although aesthetics are subjective, I have to say I don’t think the phone offers much on that front, either. The handset looks an awful lot like an iPhone that’s a few generations old, and neither the gold or white gold looks all that impressive in my opinion. Plus, the most expensive model’s inset diamonds just spell out VEB on the device’s side. Who’s going to pay that much money for the diamond-encrusted logo of a brand nobody has heard of?

I’m guessing the answer to that question is “no one.” The execs at Vertu don’t need to lose any sleep yet. But if for some reason you actually want to buy one of these things, they’re available on JD.com.

(Source: Techweb)