It's not only iPhone owners who are putting on gold plating and diamond studs on their smartphones. Samsung owners can get in on the gold action too with a company in Vietnam offering custom gold-plated editions of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+.
Karalux uses a process that takes 10 different steps to plate a Samsung phone with 24K gold. The company also claims that its gold-plated phones make the 6083 series aluminum, a material stronger than steel which is used on the Samsung phones, even stronger.
According to a description of the process, engineers first dismantle the Samsung phones and clean all the parts that are suitable for the gold-plating process. High-end chemicals are used to ensure the surfaces are squeaky clean. A base layer is then laid on the parts to make sure they are completely smooth so the gold will adhere to them.
The gold-plating itself is done by dipping the metal parts into a tank of liquefied gold for a short time. Once all the surfaces have attracted the ions and turned gold, they are removed from the bath and sprayed with a protective layer to prevent scratches and the gold from coming off. Karalux explains that the protective layer is the same with one used on a gold-plated Rolls Royce on display in Vietnam.
The company says that the process costs VND 8 million ($355). However, since it does not allow customers to send in their own phones to be gold-plated, if you want your own blinged-out Samsung smartphone, it will cost you the price of a new phone as well as the gold-plating, coming to a total of around VND 25 million ($1110).
A Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is currently on display at the Karalux store in Hanoi for those who want to have a look at the gold-plated phone.
