We’re used to Apple’s products holding their value for longer than other devices, but it’s not often that one appreciates in value by 5,000 percent. But that’s exactly what happened here: An unopened original iPhone from 2007 sold at LCG Auctions for a cool $39,339.60, roughly 50 times its original $599 MSRP.
For those who don’t remember, Apple’s first iPhone had a 3.5-inch display, 8GB of storage, and 2.75G EDGE networking. Assuming this model works, it would be nigh unusable as has no App Store and can’t be updated beyond iOS 3.
However, as a piece of Apple history and nostalgia, it’s priceless. The iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs at Macworld San Francisco in January 2007, and it instantly changed the landscape. Where previous smartphones had small keyboards and even smaller screens, the iPhone introduced the world to multitouch and auto-correct.
The nearly $40,000 final bid is more than the $35,000 someone paid for a sealed iPhone back in August. For that price, you could buy 20 iPhone 14 Pro Maxes and still have a few thousand left over for cases and an Apple Watch Ultra.
The original iPhone went on sale in June 2007 and was replaced a year later by the iPhone 3G, which included faster mobile connectivity. Apple has released a new iPhone model every year since, with the iPhone 14 arriving in September.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.