Harrods Exclusive: Introducing the Agent Q Luxury Smartphone with AI Technology and Impressive Specs by Vertu

Vertu is a brand I wouldn’t normally bother covering. They were originally a luxury subbrand of Nokia, but were sold to a Swedish private equity firm EQT VI back in 2012.

Following the acquisition, they produced luxury phones at insane prices with mediocre specs. It was mostly a style of function with the added benefit of a concierge service tacked on.

The company changed hands multiple times, and in 2017, the UK-based manufacturing arm ceased trading.

Since then, they have launched a handful of phones with more premium specs, including the Quantum Flip, a foldable phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. The specs don’t exactly justify the price, but if you are paying several thousand for a phone, you want decent quality specs.

Admittedly, they still sell some terrible spec phones such as the Ivertu Calfskin 5G, which currently retails for £1,150.00 and uses a Snapdragon 888, which is 5 years old.

Today, they launch the Agent Q, which will be available from Harrods. As you might expect for a phone in 2025, they are leaning heavily into AI.

I dread to think how much it will cost, but I am semi-impressed by how well specced it is, and I can see the appeal of having a concierge available from a dedicated button!

Vertu Agent Q Specifications

It is worth noting that while the specs are reasonably good, they are not amazing. For example, the Sony IMX906 is used on affordable flagship phones such as the Realme GT 7.

An AI-Centric Approach to Mobile Use

The core concept of the Agent Q is a departure from the conventional app-based structure of modern smartphones. VERTU states that its goal is to end the “app era”, addressing the friction that comes from needing to switch between multiple applications to complete a single, complex task. The phone is built to function as a proactive companion that can understand a user’s intention, plan the necessary steps, and orchestrate various services to achieve a goal.

Instead of a user manually navigating different apps, the Agent Q is designed to process a single natural language request. The company provides an example: a user could say, “Book me a trip to Tokyo, same standard as New York, and secure a table at Ryugin.” The AI Agent is then supposed to manage the entire process of booking flights and making a restaurant reservation without further input or app-switching from the user. This marks a shift from a device that connects a user to services to one that delivers the end result of those services directly. This capability is made possible by bringing AI Agent technology, previously more common on personal computers, to a mobile device for the first time, according to the company.

The Software Powering the Agent Q

At the centre of the phone’s functionality are two main AI systems: the VERTU Productivity Suite (VPS) and an AI-driven intelligence system known as AIGS.

The VERTU Productivity Suite (VPS)

The VPS is described as a “toolbox of AI Agents” created specifically for high-net-worth individuals, including entrepreneurs, executives, and business leaders. The suite contains dozens of specialised agents designed to handle tasks related to finance, legal matters, health, investment, and operations. This is positioned as an alternative to hiring teams of human assistants, with the agents instead residing within the phone.

These agents are intended to manage tasks from start to finish. For instance, a Meeting Minutes Agent can record a meeting, automatically generate a list of project tasks from the discussion, and extract the next actionable steps for the user. If travel is mentioned during the meeting, such as a trip to London for a product launch, the agent can proactively ask if it should arrange flights and hotels based on the user’s known preferences. The entire arrangement, from booking to calendar integration, is handled seamlessly by the system. The VPS is designed to manage complex workflows like project management, financial auditing, and legal research, functioning as an invisible executive team.

AIGS and the Evolution of Concierge Services

The second key system is AIGS, an AI-driven intelligence system that is an evolution of the VERTU Concierge service that has been available since 1998. What makes AIGS distinct is its architecture, which allows third-party services to be integrated into its network. App developers can connect their services to the AIGS protocol by adding as few as ten lines of code, using principles the company calls Declarative Registration and Runtime Proxying.