The 2G has become fully hackable without Apple signing the firmware for restore, so firmware is irrelevant for rarity unless you were somehow able to verify firmware of a sealed product.
I agree that in terms of iOS devices it's the 1.1 iPod Touch.
None are really "rare" though as they were all produced by the truckload (even the 4GB). The 4GB is an oddity at least.
The 16GB was what a lot of people wanted, and the 8GB sold well enough at the time where many people profitied by switching (so the 16GB sold briskly, compared to the 4GB, which got clobbered at launch).
I doubt the 4GB Original iPhone is that rare, or I am severely abusing a "collectible" by storing it in a random misc box in my attic.
The 4 GB version of the original iPhone. It was only sold for a few months and hell, who would want only 4 GB?
Sorry for the late reply, but I did not want to open another post for this. Plus I wanted to supply additional information on the rarest iPhones ever made. Here goes...
To answer your questions, I think that the European version of the iPhone 2g 4GB is the rarest iPhone to date. I came to this conclusion because of the following facts:
- I have read about these iPhones a bit, and looking at their serial numbers most of them were made in week 42 or 43 which is between October 14th - 27th
- the iPhone 2g 4GB was originally discontinued on September 5th and the remaining iPhone 2g 4GB's were only sold "while supplies last"(1)
- this meaning that apple deliberately made some iPhone 2g 4GB versions exclusively for the United Kingdom, Germany, and perhaps more EU countries (though I am only aware of these two countries)
-These versions were made nearly 2 MONTHS after Apple discontinued the iPhone 2g 4GB.
- Of all the posts I have read (these were either Chinese or bad English) People have only "found" this kind of iPhone or bought it from a friend or eBay.
-These iPhones have a different back and different MPN (model part number). The UK version is MB340B and the German version is MB342D, I have not read about any other European versions. The standard US MPN is MA501LL/A
-If you take a look at the picture I have attached you will see that the back cover is unlike any other iPhone 2g 4GB. The 4GB engraving is engraved under "iPhone" then comes the "designed by Apple in California Assembled in China" underneath that the serial number and imei number and under that the logo's "CE", "0682", "!" And a garbage can. These logo's will not be found on any of the US iPhone 2g 4GB's. as to why these logo's will not be found on US models, it is because most of these logo's refer to European regulations.
These logo's have been explained in the second source mentioned at the bottom of this post and it will only take a couple of minutes to skim through this article and it is worth knowing if you live in the EU (or US and you want to gain some knowledge about EU regulations).(2)
I hope I made it clear what the rarest iPhone is. If you do not agree or want further information, do not hesitate to ask me. However, I do not know where these iPhones were sold/given/found. If anyone has any information on that, then that would be a great help as well.
(1)Source:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/200...one-Price-at-399-for-this-Holiday-Season.html
(2)Source:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/02/ask-ars-what-do-the-symbols-on-the-back-of-iphones-mean/
