Most of you were surprised a few weeks ago when we wrote about the asking price of an iPhone 6 plus in Kenya. At over 200,000, the flagship device from Apple is beyond the reach of many in this middle income country. You will therefore be surprised that there’s a phone that retails at over Sh1 million, and our favourite senator owns one.
The flamboyant politician is not known to hold back any money when it comes to treating himself or his loved ones. The same generosity extends to his constituents and he’s easily the most philanthropic politician in the country.
Sonko’s new phone is called Vertu.
Vertu is a British manufacturer and retailer of luxury mobile phones established by Finnish mobile-phone manufacturer Nokia as a wholly owned subsidiary in 1998. In October 2012 Nokia sold Vertu to private equity group EQT VI for an unspecified amount, (rumoured to be $200 million), but retained a 10% share. (Wikipedia)
Each Vertu mobile phone is handbuilt by a single craftsman. They say the pieces are positioned with jewel-like position, and in this YouTube video embedded below, you can see that’s the case.
Sonko’s device is the Vertu Signature S. It’s a pretty old 2008 model, but that does not stop it from attracting rich buyers. It comes in many finishes; leather, stainless steel, gold etc. Sonko’s most probably has a gold finish.
According to Engadget, this goes for about Sh1.1 million.
For that price, you would expect it to come with 2 terabytes of internal memory, 128 GB or RAM, 2500 megapixel camera, a weekly tot of Remy Martin Louis XIII , and Beyonce on speed dial. However, you’ll be surprised that it doesn’t even have a camera. Comparing it to any modern device is a total joke.
Here’s a snapshot of its specifications from GSMArena.
It’s clear Sonko’s problem is not money but how to spend it. I would not like to get into the debate of what Sh1 million can do, because we have very different perspective of things.
In any case, the amount of gold on his fingers is probably enough to take me through an early retirement.
Here are more photos of the good senator taking his phone on a test run.
