Factory-Sealed Original iPhone Sells for $55,000 at Auction

A first-generation iPhone still sealed inside its box sold for $54,904 at auction, which is more than $54,000 over the original $599 price tag of the device when it was released in 2007.

original iphone auction
The original ‌iPhone‌ was put up for sale by RR Auction on behalf of a former Apple employee who purchased it back when it first came out. Back in February, an original, sealed ‌iPhone‌ sold for over $63,000, which actually marked a sales record for a first-generation ‌iPhone‌.

Unopened first generation original Apple iPhone, Model A1203, Order MA712LL/A (8GB). The box features a life-size image of the iPhone with twelve icons on the screen, indicating that it is from the earliest production (2007); a 13th icon, for iTunes, came later in the year. In brand new, factory-sealed condition. Accompanied by an AT&T bag and leaflet regarding rate plans and iPhone activation. The consignor notes that he purchased this phone upon its release in 2007, but also received one through work as an Apple employee; this spare was therefore never opened.

Other unopened original iPhones sold for $35,000 and $39,000 in 2022, so prices have been trending upward.

RR Auction also sold a an "undiscovered" Apple-1 computer for an unspecified sum, with other Apple devices and memorabilia also fetching high prices. A Macintosh Plus from Del Yocam sold for $26,590, while a Macintosh 128K prototype sold for $16,500 and an Apple Lisa sold for $81,251.

An ‌iPhone‌ 11 signed by Apple CEO Tim Cook sold for nearly $4,000, technical instructions annotated by Steve Jobs went for $12,500, and a Steve Jobs business card sold for $6,188.

Top Rated Comments

timber Avatar
13 months ago
He deserved more, that poor guy bought a phone in 2007 and went for 16 years without using it probably using phone booths and internet cafés.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
13 months ago
Bummer! I would have easily paid $55,001 ? for this iPhone.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
darngooddesign Avatar
13 months ago
Anything to avoid iOS7 I guess. ?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
michaelant Avatar
13 months ago
Tim Cook should stop leaking these original iPhones and get cranking on a headset nobody wants.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr. Dee Avatar
13 months ago
I have an iPhone 2007, just not the box. The box itself fetches for high prices on Ebay. I am just happy to have one. It’s even running the very first version of iPhoneOS. Booting up and seeing how far we’ve come is amazing. It does not seem to be recognized by my PowerBook G4 running Leopard, but I got it to sync on my old Dell Laptop running XP. I synced songs from 2007. That was such an uncertain year for me. I remember when I started at a vocational institute I walked to the nearby supermarket to pickup some essentials with my new roommate. We saw this young lady in the supermarket with one already jailbroken. I went up to her at check out and asked if that’s the iPhone. She said yeah, and I asked if I could look at it. She said sure! I couldn’t believe I was playing with one in ‘Jamaica’. Her significant other sent it to her, there was even a crack on the screen already. It would be years before I owned my first iOS device, 3rd gen iPod Touch with iOS 3. Still didn’t have wallpapers yet.

I don’t know what the future holds for the iPhone and maybe Apple has finally cracked the secret with the VR headset to slowly start chipping away at its success. But there is no denying it, the iPhone has changed the course of history.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MallardDuck Avatar
13 months ago
I wonder how many of these were re-shrinkwrapped and just have old snickers candy bars inside.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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