This Steve Jobs-inspired iPhone costs $27,000 - and it's surprisngly cheap

iPhone 13 Pro Caviar
(Image credit: Caviar)

Caviar can be relied on to make wild custom iPhone and iPad designs, and then actually put them on sale. We've seen it make phones with bits of dinosaurs, phones with parts of the original iPhone, phones with meteors in them. But these new iPhone 13 Pro and iPad Pro builds are the most gauche yet.

The brand now offers golden iPhone 13 Pro and iPad Pro models, engraved with quotes or signatures from famous people. You can check out the whole range here, and it's an odd assortment.

There are signatures from Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, two people who are beloved by the most annoying person you know, as well from Michael Jackson and Napoleon Bonaparte. Those are all on iPhones, but there's also an iPad Pro with a quote from Rasputin (who's a real person, not just from the Boney M song).

This isn't just some handwriting scrawled onto the back, either, but engraved into 24-carat gold on the back of the iPhone or iPad, usually with some extra designs to give the devices a distinct look.

Should you buy an autographed iPhone?

"Oh cool," you may be thinking, "I love Michael Jackson, I'll buy an iPhone with his signature on it," - well, there's a catch. That one costs $24,540 (around £18,700, AU$33,800)... and it's the cheapest one.

Elon Musk and Steve Jobs both cost you $26,790 (about £20,500, AU$36,900), which still seems cheap compared to Napoleon. Mr Bonaparte will set you back $75,090 (roughly £57,400, AU$103,400), and that Rasputin iPad is a princely $91,100 (wow - £69,600, AU$125,400). 

Why is Bonaparte so much pricier than the creator of the iPhone? Well that's because it contains the most gold of all - it looks like a gold bar from an old Western movie.

Oh, and those iPhone prices are for the 13 Pro. Buying an iPhone 13 Pro Max will cost you even more. Likewise, that's an iPad Pro 11, not a 12.9-inch version, and that bigger model will cost even more.

If you want, you can also submit your own quote, on a form at the bottom of that page we linked above. So you can put your favorite Morgan Freeman line or political speech - or, for an absolutely top-tier power play, add a quote you said yourself.

Caviar devices always cost a lot, because they custom rigs the devices with premium materials and top-end manufacturing. But those are some wild prices. You could probably conquer half of Europe for the price of that Napoleon phone.

Tom Bedford
Contributor

Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.


He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist. He also currently works in film as a screenwriter, director and producer.