Hey, quick question: If you had $200,000 left over in your bank account, what would you spend it on? You’d probably spend it on a house or maybe a new car (several new cars?). What you probably wouldn’t do is spend that kind of money on a 16-year-old iPhone. But that’s exactly what happened over the weekend.
The original iPhone was released back in June 2007. Back then, Apple released two versions of its most successful product of all time: a 4GB storage model that cost $499 and an 8GB model that cost $599. And it’s this 4GB model that has become something of a collector’s item. This is because the 4GB version was selling slower than its 8GB counterpart in 2007. Most people simply paid the extra $100 to double the phone’s storage, and that led to Apple discontinuing the 4GB version just two months after its release in September 2007. So there weren’t nearly as many of these left in the wild, and even fewer remained sealed in their boxes. That explains (to some extent) why a sealed, mint condition 2007 iPhone 4GB just sold for $190,372.80.
As reported by TweakTown The supposedly very rare iPhone 4GB was released on July 16th Sold to an unknown buyer on LCGAuctions.com for nearly $200,000.
LCG Auctions’ item description suggests that the old Apple phone is the “Holy Grail” among phone collectors. The phone up for auction was still sealed in its original packaging from the factory and appeared to be in “exceptional condition”. LCGAuctions claimed the consignor was part of Apple’s original engineering team during the iPhone launch, which may explain how they got hold of such a rare device and why they never opened it.
Other iPhones have been sold at similarly high prices
This isn’t the first iPhone to sell for a large sum at auction. LCGAuctions names some other Apple devices that have sold at incredible prices over the past nine months, including two factory-sealed 8GB iPhones from the same era. One was sold in October last year for $39,339and another hit $63,356 last February. And again one of these old, original and still sealed iPhones was sold this year for $40,000
What’s happening? Well, some have suggested that many of these auctions are big ticket auctions including vintage tech, video games and collectibles are part of some kind of money laundering or price-fixing gimmick. For example, some believe that video game auctions take place These are sealed copies of Nintendo games go for tens of thousands of dollars are part of an alleged brawl involving property appraisers, auction houses and wealthy clients. However, all companies involved have denied the claims and there is no direct evidence that these recent iPhone auctions are part of a larger conspiracy or otherwise linked to illegal activities.
Regardless of what’s happening, if you want a vintage iPhone or other tech collectible, you should probably buy it now, before prices get even higher in the future. Maybe this will fund your kid’s college education, or the AI apps they need to survive in the 2040s job market, or something.