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Nothing says Trump-Putin bromance like gold-plated iPhones

From luxury smartphone maker Caviar comes a limited-edition pair of phones honoring a lovefest of global proportions.

Leslie Katz Former Culture Editor
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
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  • Third place film critic, 2021 LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards
Leslie Katz
2 min read
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Caviar

Much has been made of the seemingly cozy relationship between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Should you wish to revel in their apparent bromance, you can now do so with custom companion gold-plated iPhones from Caviar, a Russian-Italian maker of luxury smartphones. Use the devices separately, or, ideally, place them next to one another so the politicians can stare lovingly into each other's eyes.

The new, limited-edition "One World" phones come in a wooden box, with plans to offer them in a globe-shaped container, according to the company. Each iPhone 7 features an emblem of the world leader's respective country, as well as lines from his national anthem: "O say can you see by the dawn's early light" for Trump and "Russia our sacred state, Russia our beloved country" for Putin.

Toting the two gold-plated icons around will cost you about $6,658 (£5,335, AU$8,820), but no one said dabbling in international politics would come cheap.

This isn't the first time Caviar has turned Trump and Putin into high-end phones.

When Trump won the election last year, Caviar added a gold-plated iPhone 7 bearing his engraved portrait and his tagline "Make American Great Again" to its Supremo collection celebrating "great personalities." That phone costs a little over $3,200 (£2,564, AU$4,238), about the same amount as Caviar's Putin iPhone went for when it first came out in 2014. It's since been discounted.

Now that Caviar's bringing Trump and Putin together, a word of caution to the company: We're only in week two of the new administration here. You might want to pace yourself.

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