Smartphones used to be a status symbol, but now everybody owns one thanks to subsidies and ever decreasing prices. Apple brought back some of the allure with a gold iPhone 5S last month, but it was only gold in color. Now HTC is one upping the guys at Cupertino with a phone made out of real gold.

HTC announced today that it has made five gold HTC Ones in conjunction with Goldgenie for the MOBO Awards 18th anniversary. The 18ct gold-plated phones are valued at $4,416 each, but they’re not available for sale. One will be given out to the winner in the Best Newcomer category at this year’s MOBO Awards, and at least one will be given out to the public as a prize.

“The best artists have always been given gold discs to celebrate their success, but today most people listen to music on their phone. We wanted to celebrate that fact,” said Phil Blair, HTC President, Europe, Middle East and Africa. “The award winning HTC One is the gold standard in mobile design and innovation, so it was an obvious choice to make it even more special. We’re sure the winning MOBO artist will love their unique phone and we will even be giving a lucky member of the general public the chance to get their hands on one soon too.”

The MOBO Awards are exclusive to UK artists, but that doesn’t mean you can’t vote. If you want to choose who wins the Best Newcomer award and a gold HTC One, you can hit up the voting site here.

Oh, and if you don’t want to take your chances on a contest, you can pick up an unofficial gold-plated HTC One from Goldgenie today for $2,528.88.

[Image: HTC]
[h/t: Android Central]