The original owner never opened it figuring it will ‘never go out of date’
A first-generation iPhone has sold at auction for more than 100 times its original price.
The 2007 phone, which is still sealed in its box, was sold on LCG Auctions for $63,356.40 (£52,720). Bidding was expected to go up to $50,000 but exceeded that by more than $13,000.
CBS News reported that bidding started at $2,500 on Sunday and was sold after 27 bids.
The original owner of the phone, Karen Green, had it appraised in 2019 and because it was an 8GB — not 4GB — and was still in the original box, it was estimated to be worth $5,000, the network said.
Green was gifted the phone in 2007 from her friends after landing a new job, but since she had just got a new phone, she left it in the box.
“I didn’t want to get rid of my phone, and I figured, ‘It’s an iPhone, so it will never go out of date,'” she said. The phone originally sold for between $499 to $599.
The iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs on 9 January 2007 at a trade show in San Francisco called MacWorld, and it became available to purchase around five months later.
The original phone boasted a touch screen, web browsing capabilities and a 2-megapixel camera. The latest iPhone, the 14, has a 48MP camera.
In August, a first-release iPhone sold for $35,414 in August and another for $39,339 in October through LCG.
Last year, an early Apple computer prototype from the 1970s sold for more than $677,000.
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