An original factory-sealed 4G iPhone has sold at auction for $190,372.80. The sale, held by auctioneers LCG Auctions, began on June 30 with a starting price of $10,000, and attracted a total of 28 bids by the time it closed on Sunday.
The unidentified buyer purchased the brand new, sealed and never activated 1st generation device – which comes complete with 4GB of storage and a 2-megapixel camera – for almost 400 times its original $499 retail price.
“The original 4GB model is considered a ‘Holy Grail’ amongst iPhone collectors,” LCG said on the listing page – revealing that this specific phone was being sold by a true Apple insider: someone who was part of the tech giant’s original engineering team when the iPhone first launched.
“Collectors and investors would be hard pressed to find a superior example,” the auctioneer insisted, labeling the device an “extraordinary collectible.”
With the 8GB model priced just $100 higher than its 4GB counterpart upon the smartphone’s release 16 years ago, consumers largely favored the 8GB model – which hampered sales of the 4GB phone and ultimately saw it discontinued by Apple just two months after its release.
Today, that means the 1st generation model with less storage is rarer – and more sought after by collectors.
MacDailyNews Take: Having held several of these “Jesus phones” safely ensconced in their pristine shrink-wrapped boxes in our hands back in the day, our resolve to buy, not open, and simply store away at least one factory-sealed Apple Vision Pro has never been stronger.
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Wow, what a great price. The original iPhone is still quite a beauty!