The Vertu Alphafold asks executives to pay US$6,880 — around ₱423,000 — for a foldable phone whose main selling point is an AI agent that runs your workday. A hands-on review published on July 17 found the agent falls well short of that price. This is the first substantial independent test of the device since it went on sale in late May, and the verdict is blunt: the execution does not match the price tag.
What the Hermes agent is supposed to do
Hermes is Vertu's on-device AI agent, built on the open-source Hermes project from Nous Research. An "agent" here means software that does not just answer questions but carries out multi-step tasks on your behalf — opening apps, sending messages, setting reminders, pulling data from business systems.
Vertu markets it as an executive assistant that can connect to enterprise software such as ERP (the system a company uses to run finance and operations) and CRM (the system that tracks customers and sales), then handle approvals, scheduling, sales tracking, travel planning and reporting from plain-language instructions.
How it actually performed
TechCrunch's Jagmeet Singh tested it over several days on exactly the executive workflows Vertu advertises. The results were mixed:
- Partial success on multi-step tasks. Asked to arrange an airport departure, Hermes sent the message, enabled Do Not Disturb and opened Google Maps — then set the reminder for the wrong time.
- Memory failures. Days later, the agent could not recall file context from earlier sessions, something Samsung's Gemini-based alternative handled.
- Inconsistent file access. It analysed a financial spreadsheet correctly at first, then later claimed it "cannot access files stored directly on your local device" and required a re-upload.
The review's conclusion was that Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7 delivers comparable functionality for far less money.
The hardware underneath the leather
Strip away the calfskin and titanium and the Alphafold is a rebadged ZTE Nubia platform. The specifications, confirmed by Notebookcheck, are respectable but not 2026-flagship:
| Component | Vertu Alphafold |
|---|
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Elite (2024 flagship, also called 8 Gen 4) |
| Inner display | 8.05-inch foldable, 5,000 nits peak HDR |
| Cover display | 6.53-inch |
| Memory | 16GB RAM, 1TB storage |
| Battery | 6,500mAh, 65W wired |
| Wireless charging | None |
| Rear cameras | 50MP main, 50MP ultrawide, 5MP telephoto |
| Front camera | 20MP |
| Weight | 264g |
| Hinge | Titanium and carbon, rated 650,000 folds |
| Security | Dedicated A5 security chip |
Battery life ran past a full day in testing. The missing wireless charging is the sort of omission that stands out badly at this price. The chipset is nearly two years old.
Pricing climbs steeply from the base model: US$6,880 (around ₱423,000) for calfskin, up to about US$13,800 (around ₱849,000) for other finishes, with a top standard configuration listed at US$46,800 (around ₱2.88 million) in alligator leather, 18K gold and diamonds. Conversions use mid-July's rate of roughly ₱61.55 to the dollar.
Should a Filipino buyer care?
Vertu does have a Philippine presence — it has operated a flagship store at Shangri-La Plaza in Ortigas, and units appear on local marketplace listings — but no Philippine SRP for the Alphafold has been announced, and it is not sold through any local carrier. Anyone buying today would be importing or going through a grey-market reseller, with the warranty and support risks that implies.
The more useful takeaway is about AI agents generally. The Alphafold shows that expensive hardware does not fix an agent's core weaknesses: remembering context across sessions and reliably reading local files. Those are software problems, and the cheaper phones already in Philippine stores are solving them at roughly the same pace. If the agent is the reason to buy, a mainstream foldable at a fraction of the price gets you most of the way there.
