In pictures: Lamborghini's £2,500 smartphone

With the design of smartphones generally converging onto the tried-and-tested ‘black glassy slab’ look, it’s good to see a smartphone maker branch out into something a bit more original.

Unfortunately, when the handset in question sells for £2,500 and comes with the technical specs equivalent to that of phone costing less than £200 then the accolades should, perhaps, be a little more measured.

This is the Antares, a limited edition smartphone launched by Lamborghini this week and coming to stores at some point in early 2014.

“The Antares is in a class by itself, one we refer to as the 'techno-luxury' mobile segment,” said Mr Tonino Lamborghini, president of the luxury brand responsible for the phone. “Our new phone marries uncompromising Italian design and premium build quality with the high performance people expect from their most important lifestyle accessory.”

There’s no denying that the Antares’ leather back and angular stainless steel design are eye-catching (although the word ‘garish’ springs to mind) but Lamborghini has apparently fallen into the same trap that seems to catch out every manufacturer of luxury phones: mediocre innards.

The Antares comes with a quad-core 1.5Ghz processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory, as well as a full HD 1080p screen and a 13-megapixel rear and 5-megixel front-facing camera – specs that could be found in handsets costing less than a tenth of the price.

The whole thing is powered by Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and comes in “several alluring colour schemes for both men and women”.

We’ve seen handsets similar to this in the past (some offering even more extravagant price tags) and it seems the trend won’t be coming to an end any time soon, with Lamborghini promising to release “a further series of mobile products aimed at successful independent people searching for a unique identity and luxury items with genuine character and true performance.”