A Porsche at hand

WHEN uttered, the word Porsche evokes images of rolling hills, an infinite ribbon of tarmac, and the unmistakeable sound of a roaring flat-six motor nestled deep inside a sleek, purposeful sports car: the Porsche 911. A product of years of evolution, the 911 is a symbol of status, a sign that whoever is driving it is on the top of the world, driving not a car but precision machinery, scything its way through the south of France.

Porsche and the team at electronics giant Huawei have attempted to distil some of that allure into the Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS, the latest tie-up between Porsche's design house and Huawei's consumer smartphone group.

Gussying up phones and marketing them as premium products has long been Porsche Design's (PD) ethos from the start. People with long memories will recall the collaborations between PD and the old Blackberry, which sold handsets that weren't necessarily better than their donor models, but I'm happy to report that PD has been getting better with each iteration, and their latest offering is definitely a step in the right direction.