One-of-a-Kind Products Designed by Jony Ive and Designer Marc Newson Sold Off at (RED) Auction

Yesterday, the one-of-a-kind products designed by Apple's senior vice president of design Jony Ive and designer Marc Newson were sold off at Sotheby's charity auction to benefit Product (RED), with winning bids for the four products ranging from $461,000 to $1,805,000.

productredauctions
Most notably, the one-of-a-kind red Mac Pro designed by the duo was sold for $977,000, with the desktop computer originally estimated to sell at a max of $60,000. Additionally, the pair of solid gold Apple EarPods from the designers sold for $461,000 and was previously estimated to grab a max bid of $25,000. The special edition Leica camera and the one-of-a-kind aluminum desk sold for $1,805,000 and $1,685,000, with both originally estimated to sell at max prices of $750,000 and $500,000 respectively.

The auction also included the sale of many other items curated and in some cases customized by Ive and Newson, such as a Steinway & Sons grand piano that sold for $1,925,000 and a customized magnum of Dom Perignon 1966 with a custom red label that sold for $93,750.

Both designers have gotten a great amount of press coverage over the past few weeks leading up to the auction, with the designers being interviewed by Vanity Fair to talk about the collaborative design process and the amount of work that went into the products, as well as an interview on the Charlie Rose Show discussing their overall obsession with perfection. The two had also previously appeared in a video discussing the auction and their role in it.

In total, all of products auctioned off at the special event raised nearly $13 million. Proceeds from the auction will go to Product (RED), a longtime Apple partner. Apple has raised more than $65 million for the charity since 2006.

Related Roundup: Mac Pro
Buyer's Guide: Mac Pro (Neutral)
Related Forum: Mac Pro

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Production Will Reportedly Begin Ramping Up in October

Tuesday July 23, 2024 2:00 pm PDT by
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Kuo: Ultra-Thin iPhone 17 to Feature A19 Chip, Single Rear Camera, Semi-Titanium Frame, and More

Wednesday July 24, 2024 9:06 am PDT by
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Less Than Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Thursday July 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
icloud private relay outage

iCloud Private Relay Experiencing Outage

Thursday July 25, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...

Top Rated Comments

Parkin Pig Avatar
139 months ago
Only the stupendously wealthy can afford to spend cash like this to buy one-off trinkets to impress their friends.
Good cause? Call me cynical, but isn't it the greed of the stupendously wealthy that causes the uneven distribution of wealth that leads to poverty and hardship in poorer parts of the world (devastation of rain forests for cattle raising, abuse of workers for cheap electronic manufacturing, private ownership of freshwater supplies etc).
The 'saintly' folk who bought these goods will no doubt get a massive tax break on these charitable purchases, and alleviate any guilty feelings (if they are indeed capable of such an emotion) connected with the origins of their income.
Score: 73 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BillyBobBongo Avatar
139 months ago
Only the stupendously wealthy can afford to spend cash like this to buy one-off trinkets to impress their friends.
Good cause? Call me cynical, but isn't it the greed of the stupendously wealthy that causes the uneven distribution of wealth that leads to poverty and hardship in poorer parts of the world (devastation of rain forests for cattle raising, abuse of workers for cheap electronic manufacturing, private ownership of freshwater supplies etc).
The 'saintly' folk who bought these goods will no doubt get a massive tax break on these charitable purchases, and alleviate any guilty feelings (if they are indeed capable of such an emotion) connected with the origins of their income.

Damned if you do...damned if you don't.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2ms Avatar
139 months ago
There's way too much self-congratulatory attention to Apple design the last couple years. I think Steve must have kept a lid on things and now that he is dead people have been taking a lot of liberties. Apple doesn't have the class that they once did. The design of their products has gone downhill a lot. iOS7 would have never been approved by Steve. None of the current iPods would have been approved by him. The quality of OSX has even gone downhill, as I have had far more issues with it on my Retina MBP in 1.5 years than I did in all the rest of my 8 years of using Macs put together.

It's all just very disappointing. Seeing a company lose what was great about it. All for ego. That's how things appear, at least. This "Designed by Apple" and all the talk about the individual people who work within the company. It's just low class. The products aren't as good as they used to be, yet instead of working on that, you've got all this other kind of famous celebrity brand name designer crap.

Apple, get your act together if it's at all possible. Maybe it isn't without Steve. Maybe you guys needed him to make the right decisions. But you gotta try, because things are coming apart.
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gwelmarten Avatar
139 months ago
Only the stupendously wealthy can afford to spend cash like this to buy one-off trinkets to impress their friends.
Good cause? Call me cynical, but isn't it the greed of the stupendously wealthy that causes the uneven distribution of wealth that leads to poverty and hardship in poorer parts of the world (devastation of rain forests for cattle raising, abuse of workers for cheap electronic manufacturing, private ownership of freshwater supplies etc).
The 'saintly' folk who bought these goods will no doubt get a massive tax break on these charitable purchases, and alleviate any guilty feelings (if they are indeed capable of such an emotion) connected with the origins of their income.

This is a disgusting generalisation.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NachoGrande Avatar
139 months ago
They donated millions and they get vilified. I guess no good deed goes unpunished. evil rich people :rolleyes:
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sheareb Avatar
139 months ago
Wonder if they took AppleCare! :eek:
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)