• 4 min read
Vertu’s $6,880 AI phone still needs supervision
Vertu’s $6,880 Alphafold pairs luxury materials with an ambitious AI agent, but Hermes still makes costly mistakes in executive workflows.
Image: TechCrunch
Vertu’s Alphafold starts at $6,880, but its most expensive feature is not the calfskin leather or titanium trim. It is Hermes Agent, a built-in AI system designed to analyze documents, automate tasks across apps, remember conversations, and escalate requests to a human concierge.
The UK-founded luxury phone maker is targeting affluent buyers—particularly chief executives—rather than competing with mainstream smartphones on specifications. I used the foldable for several days as Vertu says its customers would: analyzing spreadsheets and contracts, planning business trips, managing schedules, and automating routine workflows. The test was less about whether the Alphafold is a good smartphone than whether it is a good executive smartphone.
Alphafold hardware and ZTE connection
Physically, the Alphafold looks and feels like a luxury product. The review unit came wrapped in genuine calfskin leather with titanium accents, while its oversized packaging resembled a jewelry presentation case, complete with drawers containing accessories such as a leather sleeve and charging cables.
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Against the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, the 264-gram Alphafold is noticeably heavier than Samsung’s 215-gram foldable. Its curved frame makes unfolding easier, although Samsung’s flatter design feels sleeker and more comfortable for one-handed use when closed.
Beneath the materials, the phone closely resembles the $1,100 ZTE Nubia Fold. The hinge, dimensions, speakers, microphones, and fingerprint-reader placement are similar, and system information showed ZTE identifiers in parts of the software.
Vertu confirmed that the Alphafold was developed through a supply-chain partnership involving ZTE/Nubia’s hardware platform, component integration, and production engineering. Vertu said it handled the luxury materials, software experience, quality control, and after-sales service. ZTE did not respond to a request for comment. Wired reported similar ZTE connections in a 2023 review of Vertu’s MetaVertu.
Hermes Agent versus Gemini
Vertu’s central bet is that executives will pay for an AI agent, not a more capable foldable. I compared Hermes with Google’s Gemini on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 using multi-step work tasks rather than simple prompts.
Early software builds had trouble uploading files, analyzing images, and connecting to Vertu’s concierge. After those issues were reported, Vertu introduced server-side fixes that restored the missing functionality.
In an airport scenario, Hermes sent a message saying I was running 20 minutes late, enabled Do Not Disturb, and opened Google Maps. It did not start navigation, however, and created a reminder for 9:08 p.m. even though the request was made at 2:32 a.m. for a reminder 15 minutes later.
Gemini asked follow-up questions about the airport and whether to use Google Tasks or Samsung Reminder. Once those details were confirmed, it created the reminder at the correct time. Hermes acted more independently; Gemini produced the more accurate result.
A Mumbai-to-Pune business-trip test exposed another weakness. Hermes said there were no direct morning flights, offered to hand the request to Vertu’s Contact Butler concierge, and created a calendar entry for 7 July instead of 18–19 July. Gemini suggested alternative travel options instead of ending the workflow.
Document handling was similarly mixed. Hermes correctly summarized Q2 figures from an uploaded sales spreadsheet, but days later it no longer recognized the file and replied: “I cannot access files stored directly on your local device. Please upload or attach the Sales spreadsheet here in the chat, and I will gladly analyze the Q2 data for you.” Gemini also needed the spreadsheet uploaded initially, but retained the conversation context and later identified the North region as having the highest sales without requiring another upload.
Security, enterprise tools, and verdict
Hermes includes specialist agents for legal advice and investment insights, plus human-concierge escalation. Vertu’s ERP demonstration also showed business data and workflows on the phone, although testing was limited to a demo environment. The specialist tools remain AI-generated and should be independently verified before use in legal, financial, or other high-stakes decisions.
Vertu says Hermes conversations are encrypted, are not used to train public AI models, and can be processed on private infrastructure for enterprise deployments. The company also points to an A5 security chip for hardware-level protection of sensitive data, encrypted communications, and digital credentials. Those claims could not be independently verified during testing.
Away from AI, the Alphafold’s battery lasted more than a day, but it lacks wireless charging—a notable omission at this price, especially since the Galaxy Z Fold 7 supports Qi charging. Its document-scanning camera mode is useful for contracts and receipts, though Samsung offers a comparable feature.
The Alphafold is an ambitious AI-first luxury phone, but Hermes Agent is still evolving. The hardware is closely related to a far cheaper foldable, leaving buyers to justify the premium through Vertu’s branding, craftsmanship, concierge services, and the promise that its agent will eventually handle the working day more reliably.
Gadgets Editor
Eli is obsessed with the tangible future. He reviews phones, wearables, and everything with a battery. Known for his rigorous testing protocols and unabashed teardowns, Eli has broken more review units than he cares to admit, all in the name of discovering the truth about durability and repairability.
via TechCrunch
