If you think selling an original iPhone for $63,000 is a lot of money, think twice. A factory sealed 2007 iPhone has been sold at auction for $190,373 (via MacRumors). This is three times more than the previous record. What makes this auction more interesting is that the original iPhone had 4GB of storage and not 8GB – as usual.
Looking back, Apple first sold the original iPhone with 4GB and 8GB options ($499 and $599, respectively). But due to the success of the 8GB model, Apple discontinued the 4GB model after a few months and started offering a 16GB option.
According to MacRumors, the LCG Auction began on June 30 and ended this Sunday. The initial bid was $10,000, with a total of 28 submissions. The final price was the $190,372.80 sale.
The LCG Auction website says, “The original 4GB model is considered a ‘Holy Grail’ amongst iPhone collectors. Its extreme scarcity is directly related to its limited production,” as explained above. Besides being factory sealed and “virtually flawless along the surface and edges, the factory seal is clean with correct seam details and tightness.”
What made this original 4GB iPhone so unique was the fact that the owner was part of the original engineering team at Apple when the iPhone first launched. While LCG expected this model to be sold by $50,000 – $100,000, it sold for almost twice the higher estimation.
The original iPhone offered an “innovative” multi-touch panel, a 2-megapixel camera, and a web browser. The iconic box featured a life-size image of the iPhone with 12 icons on the screen. It quickly became Apple’s most successful product and forever changed the smartphone industry.
While original 8GB iPhone models started selling for less due to more models being made available, after this whooping auction, I wonder if more sealed 4GB versions will start appearing and we could have another record-break auction or if prices could fall again.
