The iPhone 12 isn’t out yet, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has yet to fulfill his ambition of landing on Mars — but Russian luxury firm Caviar is getting ahead of the game.
This week, it announced a new limited series of 19 “Musk Be On Mars” iPhone 12 Pro handsets. Rather than being blinged out with gold and diamonds like previous Caviar iPhones, these special-edition units will feature “a piece from the SpaceX spaceship that was in space,” bas relief of the Dragon spacecraft, and a laser-engraved Musk signature.
All yours for a starting price of $4,990.
The SpaceX-inspired iPhone 12
Caviar’s description reads as follows:
“The genius of the modern time who prove by deed, not by word that the humans are capable to conquer the endless space – Elon Musk – amazes more and more often with his breakthrough ideas and innovative engineer thoughts every year.
The mission of SpaceX is a space giant, the cornerstone of Solar System colonization. For the creation of the premiere model in the Discovery Collection on iPhone 12 Pro Caviar designers were inspired the successful flight of Dragon. This is a new era in the space exploration, a new milestone in our history.
The body of the model Discovery Musk Go To Mars has a built-in real piece of the SpaceX mission that was in space. This is not just an accessory, this is a valuable artifact. Owning it, you become a member of a space shuttle crew, a piece of history, a hero who conquers the space.”
Or, you know, a super-rich dude who can afford to spend thousands of dollars on a custom iPhone (although that doesn’t sounds quite as good as “space-conquering hero.”)
Caviar specializes in custom iPhone variants
Caviar started creating custom iPhone variants years ago. The process involves taking a regular iPhone and then modifying it in Caviar’s jewelers/machine shop. By the standard of most Caviar iPhones, the Musk Be On Mars models are actually not all that expensive. Pricier previous models — such as the Solarius Zenith Full Gold iPhone 11 Pro — topped out at $120,000.
Perhaps the biggest question is whether Musk would feel particularly flattered by an honorary iPhone. Musk said he once met Steve Jobs and found him to be a jerk. He also dismissed Apple’s secret electric car project as the “Tesla Graveyard.”
“If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple,” Musk said. “I’m not kidding.”
