Hey, quick question: If you had $200,000 spare in your bank account, what would you spend that money on? You might end up spending that money on a house, or maybe a new car (several new cars?). What you probably won’t do is put that kind of cash in a 16-year-old iPhone. But that’s what happened over the weekend.
The original iPhone was released back in June 2007. At the time, Apple released two versions of what would become its most successful product ever: a 4GB storage model priced at $499 and an 8GB model priced at $599. And it’s the 4GB model that has become a collectible. This is because in 2007 the 4GB version sold slower than the 8GB version. Most people only pay an extra $100 to double the phone’s storage, and as a result Apple stopped offering the 4GB version just two months after its release, in September 2007. So, not many of them hit the market and even less are still sealed in their boxes. That (sort of) explains why a 2007 iPhone 4GB with its original stamps and seals sold at auction for $190,372.80.
EQUAL reported by TweakTown On July 16, the extremely rare 4GB iPhone was found sold to an unidentified buyer on LCGAuctions.com for nearly $200k.
LCG Auctions’ item description suggests that old Apple phones are the “Holy Grail” for phone collectors. The phone being auctioned is still sealed in its original factory box and appears to be in “exceptional condition”. LCGAutions claims the shipper was part of the original engineering team at Apple during the iPhone launch, which could explain how they got their hands on such a rare device and why they never opened it.
Other iPhones have been sold for similarly high prices
This is not the first iPhone to be sold at auction for a large amount of money. LCGAuctions cites a number of other Apple devices that, in the previous nine months, have been sold for incredible prices, including two factory-sealed 8GB iPhones from the same period. One sold last October for $39,339and another hit $63,356 last February. And one more old, original and sealed iPhone for sale this year for $40,000purchased (and opened) by YouTuber Marques Brownlee.
What is happening here? Well, some people have suggested that many of these big ticket auctions related to old technology, video games and collectibles is part of some kind of money laundering or price fixing scam. For example, some people believe that video game auctions regarding sealed copies of Nintendo games earn tens of thousands of dollars was part of a number of rackets allegedly linked to item sorters, auction houses and wealthy clients. However, all of the companies involved have denied the claims, and there is no direct evidence that these recent iPhone auctions are part of some larger conspiracy or are related to the scams. illegal activities.
Regardless of what’s going on, if you want an old iPhone or another collectible piece of tech, you should probably buy it now before the price gets even higher in the future. Maybe it’ll pay for your kids’ college or the AI applications they’ll need to compete in the 2040s job market or something like that.
