3 Minutes
Think of a smartphone as jewelry and you begin to understand Caviar's latest stunt. The Russian luxury house has unveiled a Valentine's edition of the iPhone 17 Pro under its Garden of Eden line — a set of three jewel-encrusted designs that lean hard into romance and excess.
Each model — Charming Lotus, Goldfish and Wings of Love — dresses Apple's flagship in gold, rubies and diamonds. Materials matter here. They are the point. Caviar borrows symbolism from ancient cultures: the lotus for devoted love, the pair of goldfish for marital harmony, and swallows mid-flight as a whisper of loyalty. The result is less a phone and more a collectible object with a story stitched into its metal.
Only 14 examples of each design will be produced, covering both iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models. That scarcity is baked into the price. These custom phones start at roughly $10,000. The lineup's floor sits around $10,000, while the priciest design — Charming Lotus — begins at about $19,630. Goldfish is listed from $10,490, and Wings of Love starts near $10,340. Customers can also choose larger storage tiers, up to 1TB, which pushes the total even higher.
Beyond the handset itself, Caviar packages the experience. Every purchase comes with a Valentine-themed gold coin and arrives in lavish, display-ready packaging. It's an accessory economy: you're buying craftsmanship, mythic motifs and a certificate of rarity as much as you are a communication device.
Is this art, an ostentatious gift, or simply a status symbol repurposed for Valentine's Day? Opinions will vary. What won't is the clarity of intent: Caviar isn't competing on specs or software. It's competing in the market for exclusive objects, where provenance, materials and storytelling determine value.
For collectors and buyers who measure worth in carats and craft, this release checks the predictable boxes. For everyone else, it reads as a reminder that the luxury tech market continues to blur the line between gadget and glamour.
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