Vertu wants executives to pay $6,880 for an AI agent — here’s how it actually performs

TechCrunch
The luxury Vertu Alphafold smartphone offers premium materials and an AI assistant, but its high price remains difficult to justify against cheaper, more mature alternatives.

Summary

The Vertu Alphafold is a luxury foldable smartphone priced at $6,880, targeting executives with high-end materials and the integrated Hermes AI agent. Despite its branding, the hardware is essentially a rebadged ZTE Nubia device, offering little functional advantage over mainstream foldables like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. While the Hermes AI shows potential for autonomous task management and local document analysis, it frequently suffers from inconsistencies, errors, and an inability to maintain long-term context compared to competitors like Google's Gemini. Ultimately, the device struggles to justify its extreme price tag, as the AI platform feels like an evolving project rather than a finished, reliable productivity tool.

(Source:TechCrunch)