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24th Feb 2023

First-generation iPhone, still in the box, sells for over $60,000

Steve Hopkins

The original owner never opened it figuring it will ‘never go out of date.’

A first-generation iPhone has sold at auction for over 100 times its original price. The 2007 phone, still sealed in its box, was sold on LCG Auctions for $63,356.40 (€59,951.63). 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.

As 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 by her friends after landing a new job, but since she had recently bought 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“I didn’t want to get rid of my phone, and I figured, ‘It’s an iPhone, so it will never go out of date,'” she said.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 initially 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 2022, 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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