First-generation iPhone going up for auction could sell for as much as $50,000
An original unopened iPhone from 2007 has hit the auction market and it could make a lot of money.
Karen Green, a cosmetic tattoo artist, was gifted an 8 GB original iPhone but never broke the seal.
Now this may be seen as a bit rude if you were the person to spend your hard earned money on a really impressive gift that was never opened. But, in Green’s case, it has become a very valuable possession.
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Green appeared on the daytime television show The Doctor & Diva in 2019 where she revealed her friends bought it for her as a gift after getting a new job.
She didn't open it because she had recently purchased a new phone herself and she didn't tell her friends she kept it in its original packaging this whole time.
An appraiser on the show valued the device at a mere $5,000 (£4,143).
In the years since the episode aired, another first-generation iPhone like Green’s was auctioned off for more than $39,000 (£32,323). The unopened phone was listed by LCG Auctions and the deal was closed in October.
LCG Auctions is now listing Green’s unused iPhone, with bidding starting at $2,500 (£2,072).
Apple fanatics have until 19 February to bid on this piece of tech history.
The original iPhone went on sale in June 2007 and in the years since Apple have released numerous products following the smart phone’s success.
Now, an iPhone which is still in its box and originally on sale for $599 (£496) is up for auction with an estimated value of $50,000 (£41,442).
Former Apple CEO, the late Steve Jobs, unveiled the iPhone 16 years ago at Macworld Expo in San Francisco on 9 January 2007. The device went on sale from 29 June the same year.
Apple’s prized smartphone has made huge strides in technology since the first one hit the market. The earliest model had a 3.5-inch screen at a time when touch screens on phones were still fairly unusual to see in the mobile phone market.
It had a 2-megapixel camera and 4 GB and 8 GB storage options. Today you can buy an iPhone 14 Pro with up to 1 TB of storage capacity.
Users of the original iPhone could take advantage of internet capabilities and access iTunes - to buy Britney Spears’ Blackout, also known as the best album of 2007.
In what may come as a shock to some iPhone users, the original model had no app store and ran on a 2G network. In the US it was exclusive to AT&T’s network.
The iPhone 14 hit shelves last autumn after being unveiled alongside the Apple Watch 8, the Apple Watch Ultra and a new set of AirPods.
Topics: iPhone, Apple, Technology
Gregory Robinson