Gold-plated Porsche Design P'9981 BlackBerry eyes up 25 solid gold suckers

Extravagant gold plated Porsche Design P'9981 BlackBerry eyes up 25 solid gold suckers
Yours, for what we can only assume will be an incredibly high fee

If you've got more money than you can shake a diamond-encrusted stick at then BlackBerry and Porsche have the smartphone for you, in the form of the poorly named Porsche Design P'9981 Gold.

This special version of the P'9981 comes with a stainless steel case which is covered in a layer of titanium and then coated in 24-carat gold.

The limited edition number (there are only 25 of these bad boys up for grabs) is engraved on a slab of 24-carat gold which is stuck on the back of the handset, and will be available to buy from select Porsche Design stores this June.

More than a pretty penny

In terms of cost, BlackBerry is keeping quiet for the time being, but we're bracing ourselves for a big, big figure - something which could potentially put Vertu's smartphones to shame. The standard version will currently set you back around £1,250 (AU$1,930, US$1,890), and that has no gold on it.

Aside from the price there's some more bad news as the Design P'9981 Gold won't be running BlackBerry's latest BB10 operating system, with affluent suitors forced to back do with the now ancient BB OS7.1 platform.

The rest of the specs look set to be equally disappointing as we expect the Gold edition to sport the same 2.8-inch touchscreen, 1.2GHz processor, 768MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and 5MP camera of its less bling-laden predecessor.

John McCann
Global Managing Editor

John joined TechRadar over a decade ago as Staff Writer for Phones, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He's interviewed CEOs from some of the world's biggest tech firms, visited their HQs and has appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4. Originally specializing in phones, tablets and wearables, John is now TechRadar's resident automotive expert, reviewing the latest and greatest EVs and PHEVs on the market. John also looks after the day-to-day running of the site.