A first-edition iPhone with 4GB of storage would run you about $US499 back in 2007, but nowadays they cost around $US190,000. An auction house is selling one of these rare iPhones, sealed in its original packaging from 16 years ago, but the last one it sold had a 38,000% markup from its original price.
“One of the most important and ubiquitous inventions of our lifetime, the iPhone,” said LCG Auctions in its product description.
The auction house will take bids on this Original 2007 iPhone for the next two weeks, first reported by 9to5Mac Monday. It’s the third 4GB model LCG Auctions has ever sold, with the first two selling for $US190,000 and $US133,000 last year. The current bid on this iPhone is $US11,000, as of Tuesday morning, but the auction house estimates this model will go for at least $US100,000.
Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone on Jan 9, 2007 at Macworld in San Francisco, noting that Apple was about to “reinvent the phone.” The iPhone quickly became Apple’s best-selling product and was even named Time Magazine’s Invention of the Year. Given the success, it’s strange that the iPhone 4GB was discontinued on Sep 5th, 2007, just two months after its retail release.
The iPhone 4GB was released alongside the iPhone 8GB, priced at $US599. For double the storage, most consumers were more than happy to pay the extra $US100. So Apple quickly stopped producing the 4GB iPhone and never made a phone with such little storage again. Today, the base iPhone 15 has 128GB and more expensive models have 512GB of storage. The original 4GB iPhone is puny in comparison.
Given that the first edition iPhone 4GB was only sold for two months, despite being so revolutionary, it’s become quite the collector’s item. LCG Auctions notes the box on this specific model has never been opened, and the phone inside has never been activated. The box still has bright colors imbued in 2007, with little signs of fading.
Some lucky collectors will take home this original iPhone, and they may pay a hefty price tag to do so. But it could all be worth it to relive the glory days of Apple.