Pictured: The diamond-encrusted iPhone worth US$25,000 on sale in Hong Kong
City’s pursuit of luxury defies Western gloom
A gold, diamond-encrusted iPhone gleams in the window at a shopping mall in Hong Kong, its US$25,000 (HK$194,000) price tag a symbol of the city’s luxury excesses fuelled by cash-rich Chinese tourists and wealthy locals.
The custom-built device boasts a rose gold chassis ringed with a combined 7.28 carats in diamonds that also spell out the number “5” on its back, loudly announcing that this is indeed an Apple iPhone 5 - albeit with a difference.
Despite the gloom in the West and a slowing expansion of China’s economy, free-spending Chinese consumers and wealthy Hong Kong locals craving exclusivity have proven a blessing to retailers looking to buck global woes.
For (mainland Chinese) the attitude is: if you use an iPhone and I use an iPhone too, why should we have the same one?
From gadgets decked out in jewels to made-to-order men’s shoes and ladies leather handbags or Rolls Royce cars with monogrammed seats, Hong Kong continues to benefit from the influx of newly rich mainland Chinese searching for authentic goods and lower sales taxes.
“They don’t care about the price,” said store manager Cytheia Lui, surrounded by gadgets ranging from shiny gold-plated iPad covers to multi-coloured laptops and headphones.
“For them the attitude is: if you use an iPhone and I use an iPhone too, why should we have the same one?”
Lui said that a mainland Chinese customer placed an HK$800,000 ($103,000) order for 70 custom-made iPhones, which he planned to give away as gifts.
Global luxury brands continue to pin their hopes on China’s rising middle class as Europe slogs through its debt crisis, US growth remains weak and Japan’s economy fails to gain traction.