The new iPhone 14 is certainly pricey, but a first-generation iPhone has just auctioned for way, way more than that.
Still in its original packaging, an unnamed bidder dropped an impressive $39,339 for a piece of tech history that rolled off the production line in 2007.
“We expected the bidding for this item to be fervent and it did not disappoint,” LCG Auctions founder Mark Montero said in a widely reported statement. “A handful of avid and sophisticated collectors drove the price from just over $10,000 on Sunday afternoon to this record-setting amount by Sunday night.”
On its auction site, Louisiana-based LCG Auctions described the iPhone as “one of the most important and ubiquitous inventions of our lifetime,” while reminding everyone that it “quickly became Apple’s most successful product, forever changed the smartphone industry, and was named the Time Magazine Invention of the Year in 2007.
It called the lot “virtually flawless … brand new, never activated,” adding that collectors and investors would be “hard-pressed to find a superior example.”
For their money, the winning bidder received a device that when it launched 15 years ago cost $599. The original iPhone came with 4GB or 8GB of storage (the iPhone 14 starts with 128GB), a tiny 3.5-inch touchscreen (6.1 inches if you buy the latest iPhone), a camera with a measly 2 megapixels (the entry-level iPhone 14 offers 12 megapixels), and a small selection of apps (the choice is now endless). The accompanying box includes a life-size image of the iPhone, its display featuring 16 app icons.
Here’s the moment the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the very first iPhone, transforming the world of mobile devices forever.
iPhone 1 – Steve Jobs MacWorld keynote in 2007 – Full Presentation, 80 mins