So I fell down this rabbit hole about luxury phones and honestly, some of these things are absolutely insane. We're talking about devices that cost more than entire apartment buildings. These aren't really phones anymore in the traditional sense - they're basically wearable investments wrapped in gold and diamonds.

The craziest one I found is the Falcon Supernova iPhone 6 Pink Diamond. Forty-eight point five million dollars. That's not a typo. The thing is basically a massive pink diamond with a phone component attached to it. The whole device is coated in 24-carat gold, but the real value is that emerald-cut pink diamond on the back. Apparently pink diamonds are some of the rarest gemstones on the planet, which explains the astronomical price tag.

Then there's the Black Diamond iPhone 5, which a British designer named Stuart Hughes handcrafted back in 2012. Fifteen million dollars for this one. The home button is replaced with a 26-carat black diamond, and the entire chassis is solid 24-carat gold with 600 white diamonds embedded along the edges. The screen is sapphire glass so it actually matches the durability of all that precious material. It took nine weeks just to hand-craft a single unit.

Hughes seems to be the go-to guy for this kind of thing. He also created the iPhone 4S Elite Gold at 9.4 million, which comes with rose gold bezels studded with 500 diamonds and a platinum Apple logo decorated with 53 more diamonds. But here's the wild part - the packaging is a platinum chest lined with actual T-Rex dinosaur bone. I mean, that's commitment to the luxury aesthetic.

Before that, Hughes made the Diamond Rose edition - 8 million dollars with a 7.4-carat pink diamond as the home button. Only two were ever made, which is probably the whole point with these things. Exclusivity is part of the price.

Going back further, there's the Goldstriker 3GS Supreme from 2006, which cost 3.2 million. It took ten months to make and uses 271 grams of 22-carat gold with 136 diamonds on the front bezel. The home button is a single 7.1-carat diamond. Even came in a 7kg granite chest.

Then you've got the Diamond Crypto Smartphone at 1.3 million - solid platinum frame with 50 diamonds including 10 rare blue ones. And the Goldvish Le Million, which actually holds the Guinness World Record as the most expensive phone in the world when it was released in 2006. Still one of the most expensive phone in the world designs ever made, honestly. It's made of 18-carat white gold with 120 carats of VVS-1 grade diamonds and has this distinctive boomerang shape.

So why do these cost so much? It's not like you're getting better performance or a better camera. You're paying for three main things. First, the materials themselves - we're talking high-grade diamonds, solid precious metals, sometimes even prehistoric stuff like dinosaur bone. Second, the craftsmanship. These aren't mass-produced. They're custom-made by master jewellers working for months on a single unit. Third, and this is the investment angle - rare gemstones actually appreciate in value over time. So technically you're not just buying a luxury phone, you're buying an asset.

It's a completely different market from what most people think about when they buy a phone. You're not a consumer here, you're a collector.