If you only brought $50,000 to an auction for an original 2007 iPhone then you didn’t bring enough money. It’s an unusually valuable object because the handset is still sealed in the original packaging, and the item went for quite a bit above the auction estimate.
The winning bidder ended up paying $63,356 for the factory-sealed iPhone.
2007 iPhone 1 auction fetched a hefty price
Unfortunately, don’t expect the 2007 iPhone you’ve had gathering dust in the back of a drawer for a decade to be worth anything like that much. Typically, these devices sell for a few hundred dollars.
Unlike virtually all others, the unit that was just auctioned off was unused. So completely unused, in fact, that it was still wrapped in the original plastic.
It was first owned by Karen Green, who received it as a gift, according to Business Insider. Problem was, she was a Verizon customer and the 2007 iPhone was AT&T only. So she put it on a shelf. Many years later, it came out to be sold by LCG Auctions. Bidding closed Sunday, February 19.
The pre-auction valuation was $50,000 and up. As noted, it pulled in about 27% more than that. LCG says it was a new record price.
That means it went for considerably more than one that sold in late 2022. A collector put down $39,340 for that unit still sealed in the box, the previous record.
Factory-sealed 2007 iPhone 1 units don’t come up for auction very often, but it does happen every few years. This recent auction shows that if you really want one you’d better save your pennies.
