Rare 4GB Original iPhone Sells for Record $190,000 at Auction

[MacRumors]

A factory sealed original 2007 iPhone has been sold at auction for $190,373, far exceeding the previous record for an auctioned iPhone.

Apple sold the 4GB original ‌iPhone‌ for a limited amount of time, making it is the rarest of the first-generation ‌iPhone‌ models. It was predicted to establish a record sale price of up to $100,000, but the actual sale price turned out to be far higher.

The LCG Auction began on June 30 and ran through July 16. The initial bid was $10,000, and the lot had a total of 28 bids, which led to the record-breaking $190,372.80 sale.

The ‌iPhone‌ was originally sold with either 4GB or 8GB of storage when it launched 16 years ago on June 29, 2007. The 8GB model turned out to be far more popular, so Apple discontinued the 4GB model after just a few months in favor of a higher 16GB capacity.

The person selling the ‌iPhone‌ was part of the original engineering team when the ‌iPhone‌ launched, according to LCG Auctions, and it comes with a letter of provenance. The 4GB model was sold for $499, while the 8GB version cost $599.

Just this year, an 8GB original ‌iPhone‌ sold for $63,000 in February, while a second sealed original ‌iPhone‌ with 8GB of storage sold for $54,000 in March.

Article Link: Rare 4GB Original iPhone Sells for Record $190,000 at Auction

 

[h.gilbert]

4GB in 2023 for $190k, no thanks

 

[Treq]

Man… inflation is crazy.

 

[cjducasse]

At least for $190,372.80, it comes with a power adapter in the box

 

[toobravetosave]

tax dodging money launderers never stop

 

[Lioness~]

Small phones going very strong 💪🏼

 

[g-7]

Why I hadn't bought two and left one unopened?
Why? Why? 😭

 

[BellSystem]

This is really dumb. No matter how long it’s sealed its battery is gonna destroy it. The battery likely won’t hold any charge at this point anyway. Then you can’t even activate it and the 2G service is essentially gone (though I got an edge indicator in Albuquerque last week). So it’s literally the most pointless thing you can buy.

 

[contacos]

This is really dumb. No matter how long it’s sealed its battery is gonna destroy it. The battery likely won’t hold any charge at this point anyway. Then you can’t even activate it and the 2G service is essentially gone (though I got an edge indicator in Albuquerque last week). So it’s literally the most pointless thing you can buy.

But it is not to be opened anyway. It is a collectors item with the intention to maybe sell it as a retirement plan in 40 years

 

[Agile55]

bought my 4G on launch day but it took 5 days to get it activated & then traded it in a few yrs. later on a 3G model.

 

[Little Endian]

Why all the attention and hype on the first gen iPhones? Sure we have seen original Apple computers and early Macintosh examples fetching absurd prices but not much for everything else. Why don’t we see absurd auctions on first gen unopened iPods, iPads, PowerBooks, MacBooks or Apple Watches? Even the first gen 18k gold Apple Watch editions of which very few were sold seems to attract little attention.

 

[Sebalto]

£190k for 60Mhz? I can get a Hippo Honorific Blaxinus LT67 for £119 that has 120Mhz and 4 headphone jacks.

 

[sunapple]

This is getting out of hand, but congratz to the seller!

 

[EvilEvil]

No thanks. The iPhone didn't start becoming a really good phone until the iPhone 5.

 

[Sorinut]

This is really dumb. No matter how long it’s sealed its battery is gonna destroy it. The battery likely won’t hold any charge at this point anyway. Then you can’t even activate it and the 2G service is essentially gone (though I got an edge indicator in Albuquerque last week). So it’s literally the most pointless thing you can buy.

Marques Brownlee bought one of the unopened 2G iPhones a few months ago and opened it. He charged it and it held a charge.

That said, what a waste of money. I don't get the point of collecting for the sake of collecting; it's why people have to park their car in the driveway when they have a three-car garage.

 

[MacWiz_007]

A fool and his/her money are easily parted.

 

[anthogag]

Perhaps Elon Musk bought it from a former Twitter owner.

 

[ksec]

Can we have a modern iPhone Mini that is the same size as iPhone 3G / iPhone 4.

 

[BellSystem]

But it is not to be opened anyway. It is a collectors item with the intention to maybe sell it as a retirement plan in 40 years

In 40 years the battery would likely have expanded cracking the display or damaging the chassis. It may even leak all over it destroying it. Paying big money for something that will self destruct in hopes it is a retirement plan is really dumb. Not knowing until it’s x-rayed before the next sale in 40 years is also stupid. The person that gets stuck with this last will be a huge sucker.

 

[Sorinut]

bought my 4G on launch day but it took 5 days to get it activated & then traded it in a few yrs. later on a 3G model.

My ex bought the 8gb model not long after it was released and it had activation issues as well. She used it until the 6S was released.

 

[Little Endian]

Marques Brownlee bought one of the unopened 2G iPhones a few months ago and opened it. He charged it and it held a charge.

That said, what a waste of money. I don't get the point of collecting for the sake of collecting.

I made a post a few months ago where I pulled out my 13 year old iPhone 4 that had hundreds of charge cycles and it charged up just fine even after being dead and untouched for over a decade. I also pulled out my ~18 year Sanyo flip phone that was dead and untouched for ~15 years and it also charged up just fine as well. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...on.2381403/page-5?post=31982743#post-31982743

Batteries can be surprisingly resilient as long as they are stored under the right conditions. There are examples of first generation Toyota Prius that are over 20 years old with still functioning original NiMh batteries. Granted these are very rare and usually low mileage vehicles. Tons of examples of other Toyota Hybrids with both NiMH and LiIon batteries that are over 10 years old with 100s of thousands of miles on original batteries. Same can be said with Tesla’s first gen examples of Model S which are now pushing past 10 for early models.

Ultimately the people spending these stupid amounts of money are buying them as artistic and historical examples. They could care less about the condition of the battery. With the money they spent if they ever do open the box they could easily afford to spend the money to have the battery replaced even if it had to be custom made.

 

[JosephAW]

I'm assuming they x-rayed it or something to make sure it's not just half a break inside a box

 

[JosephAW]

Yeah right, who's going to pay $499 for a phone?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Holy smokes! That’s a lot of money. The only problem is it’s not going to run iOS 17 🤪

 

[toobravetosave]

Marques Brownlee bought one of the unopened 2G iPhones a few months ago and opened it. He charged it and it held a charge.

That said, what a waste of money. I don't get the point of collecting for the sake of collecting; it's why people have to park their car in the driveway when they have a three-car garage.

Theyre not collecting to collect they’re collecting to turn their cash into stuff that can be moved and sold without being as easily taxed and tracked.