An original, first edition iPhone from 2007, widely considered to be the “Holy Grail” among iPhone collectors, just sold at auction for $190,372.80.
The factory-sealed iPhone, said to be in “exceptional condition,” was part of Apple’s first-release 4GB model that debuted on June 29, 2007. As part of the initial rollout, the first iPhones were available in 4GB and 8GB. However, Apple discontinued the 4GB model just over two months later amid lagging sales, and instead introduced a 16GB iPhone.
The 4GB model is exceedingly rare given that there were so few made, and the auction marks the highest price a vintage iPhone has ever fetched—beating out an original 8GB iPhone that sold for $63,000 in February and a second sealed 8GB iPhone that sold for $54,000 in March.
The initial bid for the 4GB iPhone started at $10,000 and had been estimated to fetch somewhere in the ballpark of $50,000 to $100,000. The auction, which was facilitated by LCG Auctions, amassed 28 bids and sold for nearly 400 times its original sale price of $499. (Comparatively, the 8GB model sold for $599.)
According to the now-closed listing, the seller was part of the original engineering team at Apple when the iPhone first launched. The item was described as brand new, never activated, and “virtually flawless along the surface and edges” with the factory seal clean.
Some 16 years later, Apple is getting ready to launch the iPhone 15, which is expected to be the most expensive iPhone ever. If anyone can get over the sticker shock enough to keep an extra locked away in a safe, it too could be worth big bucks in the future.
Source link: https://www.mensjournal.com/news/first-edition-2007-iphone-auction by Stacey Ritzen at www.mensjournal.com
