iPhones typically outperform rival phones regarding value retention, but this newest example is one for the annals of history. A factory-sealed first-generation Apple iPhone from 2007 sold for $63,356 at an auction over the weekend, far exceeding the $50,000 expected price.
According to LCG Auctions, the original iPhone was still sealed in its original box and never opened.
Karen Green, the original owner of the phone, went on the talk show “The Doctor & The Diva” in 2019 to have it assessed, and experts thought it was worth around $5,000 because it was still in its original packaging and was an 8GB model.
Green said on the show that her friends purchased her the phone, but she never opened it because she had just gotten a new phone.
“I didn’t want to get rid of my new phone, and I figured it’s an iPhone, so it will never go out of date,” she said in 2019.
The auction commenced on February 2 and ended on February 19. Between February 2 and Sunday, 27 bids were placed on the iPhone, with the first bid starting at $2,500.
Other first-generation iPhones have recently sold at auction for between $35,000 and $39,000, according to LCG Auctions.
The first-generation 8GB iPhone cost $599 when it was released in 2007. When Steve Jobs unveiled the phone at the Macworld conference, he called it “revolutionary.”
Apple has just released its latest version of the product in 2022, with the iPhone 14 costing between $799 and $1,199, according to the company’s website.
