Luxury mobile phone maker Vertu has teamed up with Italian car maker Ferrari to produce a black-finished titanium handset, limited to 2,011 pieces.
Vertu, owned by Nokia, said the special edition Ascent Ti was inspired by the lines of Ferrari’s supercars. Crafted for strength, the handset is forged from high-performance titanium and hand-stitched leather found in the sports cars.
It also integrates a 2.0-inch sapphire-crystal display and ear pillow, with a splash of red. Additional features include 3.0-megapixel auto-focus camera with flash and 4-gigabytes of memory
Pricing wasn’t disclosed but the standard Ascent Ti model starts at $7,770.
The Ferrari Ascent joins a growing market of luxury devices that hope to cash in on the status symbol some phones have become. In addition to handset makers, watchmaker TAG Heuer and high-end audio maker Bang & Olufson have released luxury products. Even fashion brand like Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and Swarovski have all jumped in the mix. For many of these companies, mobile devices represent a new opportunity to expand their brand, as well as add new revenue streams to their balance sheets.
In November, Acer released its own Ferrari clamshell, powered by Google’s Android operating system.