Would you pay close to $40,000 for an iPhone? Probably not, but someone just did. At a recent auction held by LCG Auctions, an unnamed buyer paid that sum for an original sealed iPhone.
When it came out in 2007, the first generation iPhone with a 2-megapixel camera and 4GB of storage went for $499. It appears that one person decided to buy one and then put it away for 15 years. They dusted it off recently and offered it at an auction with a starting bid of $2,500.
“Brand new, never activated,” it says in the description. “Collectors and investors would be hard pressed to find a superior example. Relevance and rarity comprise a winning formula for this red hot collectible.”
According to the LCG Auctions’ website, 28 bids were placed in total between September 30th and October 16th. The winning bid stood at $39,339.60, beating the previous record price for an unopened iPhone 1 of $35,000.
The first generation iPhone was announced in January 2007 before seeing U.S. release six months later. The product started a smartphone revolution and is often credited for making Apple one of the most successful companies in the world. It is estimated that 6.1 million iPhone units were sold before the phone was discontinued in 2008 to make room for iPhone 3G.
