Diamonds dogs: Gem-encrusted iPhone 8 'Elite' available to pre-order for £3,600

We are less than a week away from Apple's first major event at its new spaceship-shaped HQ in Cupertino, where the tech giant is almost certain to reveal three new iPhone models. Of those, the 10th anniversary edition of its iOS smartphone is expected to push the accepted boundaries of flagship price tags.

All-but-confirmed to sport new features such as an edge-to-edge OLED display, wireless charging and advanced facial recognition technology in place of a home button, Apple's special edition birthday boy is estimated to cost upwards of £1,000.

Yet you could double, or even triple, that cost if you're feeling particularly flush, thanks to London-based store Goldgenie. They are already offering pre-orders of Apple's upcoming iPhone Edition (also rumoured to be called iPhone X, or simply iPhone 8) that are coated in precious metals.

The 'blinged' out handsets come plated in either 24k gold, rose gold, or platinum, with an option of adding diamond-encrusted accents to the rear Apple logo if you want to go the extra mile. Each so-called "iPhone 8 Elite" is packaged in a "Luxury Cherry Oak Finish Box" and comes with the usual iPhone accessories like EarPods, a Lightning cable and a power adapter.

To pre-order, you'll need to stump up half of the total cost up front. Those prices start at £2,397 for a 256GB iPhone in either gold, rose gold or platinum, and rise to £2,497 for the 512GB variant. For those twinkling diamonds, the cost shoots up to a whopping £3,297.

This is far from the first time Goldgenie has given Apple products an ultra-premium makeover. Last year, the company revealed its £11,000 'RockStar' iPhone 7 Plus, which had diamonds embedded around the edge of the handset as well as on the Apple logo. IBTimes UK went behind the scenes with the firm in 2015 and spoke to its founder about the company's most lavish Apple product - a £110,000 Apple Watch.

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