Vertu has entered the book-style foldable market for the first time, expanding beyond its earlier experiments with outward-folding clamshells based on Royole designs and flip phones built on the first two generations of the Nubia Flip. The luxury brand’s latest release, the AlphaFold, relies on ZTE hardware much like its previous flip offerings. Specifically, Vertu adapted the Nubia Z60 Fold that launched in Japan late last year, giving it premium materials and a substantial markup.
The AlphaFold departs from Vertu’s earlier approach with the Nubia Flip, where the company swapped out budget processors for flagship chips. This time, the differences are largely cosmetic and incremental. The AlphaFold carries over the same Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset found in the original Nubia Z60 Fold but adds a crypto chip labeled A5, bumps memory to 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage (up from 12 GB and 256 GB), and wraps everything in premium body materials. Vertu also bundles AI features under the name “Hermes Agent,” though the brand has not disclosed any licensing arrangement with the French fashion house. The battery shifts to 6500 mAh with 65W charging, a modest trade from the Nubia Z60 Fold’s 6560 mAh and 55W charging that favors faster charging over slightly higher capacity.
Both the Nubia Z60 Fold and the Vertu AlphaFold share identical core specifications. The foldable carries an 8.05-inch internal OLED display alongside a 6.5-inch external OLED screen. The triple camera setup centers on a 50-megapixel main sensor with optical image stabilization and a 1/1.55-inch sensor size, paired with a 50-megapixel ultrawide lens. Vertu markets the third camera as a telephoto option, though it is the same 5-megapixel macro sensor found on the Nubia original. Dual 20-megapixel selfie cameras sit on the inner and outer displays.
The AlphaFold is available in multiple configurations, with pricing escalating dramatically based on materials:
- Black or brown calfskin leather: €6,025 (approximately $6,500)
- Alligator leather in black, green, purple, blue, brown, orange, or red: €7,706 (approximately $8,300)
- Black alligator leather with gold camera strip: €12,085 (approximately $13,000)
- Black alligator leather with gold camera strip and gold logo: €13,135 (approximately $14,200)
- Black alligator leather with gold camera surround: €16,463 (approximately $17,800)
- Black alligator leather with gold camera surround and gold logo: €18,214 (approximately $19,700)
- Black alligator leather with gold and diamond camera surround plus gold logo: €29,948 (approximately $32,400)
- White Himalaya alligator leather: €18,389 (approximately $19,900)
