In the world of luxury items, the brand name on an item–and the price tag associated with it–have always been more important than the actual usefulness of said item. In the world of photography, it’s the same as in the world of exclusive leather bags. Leica has been busy providing the rich of this world with overpriced Panasonic knock-offs for quite a while already, and famed German optics manufacturer Zeiss has frequently had its name featured on cellphone cameras. Recently, Hasselblad as well jumped on the bandwagon of badging regular gear with an exclusive name.
But of course, Hasselblad is no ordinary brand name. While Zeiss has always been a brand that even those with a medium-sized wallet were able to afford, ‘Hassy’ has been continually striving to become a luxury brand for those with really deep pockets. Take, for example, the company’s ridiculous knock-offs of regular Sony cameras, clad in exlusive materials and sold for a multiple of the original price tag. Now Hasselblad has seen another niche of luxury items that can be used to milk the cash cow–luxury smartphones.
Just like Zeiss, Hasselblad is now lending its name to a smartphone manufacturer to make their products seem even more worthy of your money. But unlike Zeiss, who at least openly claim to have been involved with the design process of the camera’s optics, the phone camera in question is merely ‘Hasselblad-certified’–whatever that means. Certified to be expensive enough that Hasselblad can expect a major sum in royalties?
The device we’re talking about is nothing less than the latest smartphone from manufacturer Vertu, who has been making exclusive phones for quite a while now. Their latest creation, the ‘Signature Touch’, sports a huge 4.7″ screen covered by sapphire glass, runs on Android 4.4 KitKat, and comes with a personal concierge that you can call at any time to fulfill all your needs–as long as what you ask is legal. Of course, this much exclusivity comes at an equally exlusive price, with the the basic version of the Signature Touch starting at US-$ 11,300.
We’re certain that a major chunk of that price tag goes directly to Hasselblad, and another one to Bang & Olufsen whose name is being used to indicate that the device’s stereo speakers are of equally divine quality. As for the actual camera, little more is known than that it resolves 13 megapixel and has a 1/3″-type sensor–pretty much like any other smartphone camera. What exactly Hasselblad’s role in developing the camera was besides “image tuning” is unkown.
But we’re sure it’ll take much better photos than an iPhone. Of which, by the way, you can buy 17.4 of for the same kind of money. Plus you get Siri, which is the closest thing to a personal concierge us mere mortals can ever afford.
Via dpreview connect
