Unopened 2007 iPhone Nabs A Hefty Sum At Auction

History is replete with instances of people splurging insane amounts of money to own things that do not make sense to the average Joe. At one point, this primarily used to be works of art with great historical value, ranging from beautiful paintings and sculptures to rare artifacts from the yesteryears. In the past, most of these auctions targeted the well-heeled and the entitled, perhaps the only group of people who could afford such inane luxuries. 

However, the advent of the internet and a massive spike in the number of nouveau riche people with oodles of money to spend has opened up an entirely new class of users who have warmed up to the idea of paying seemingly ridiculous sums of money to buy bizarre things. Among the more unusual things that have gone under the hammer for ludicrous amounts of cash in the internet age are a banana plastered to a wall and a slice of French toast left behind by Justin Timberlake.

Some of this auction fever seems to have spilled over to folks who take their love for gadgets very seriously — especially in the case of iPhones. Introduced back in 2007, there is no denying that the iPhone single-handedly changed the smartphone industry forever. The first-generation iPhone, therefore, is revered by tech enthusiasts worldwide, with some of them ready to shell out insane amounts of money to own this 15-year-old relic. In the most recent example, someone recently purchased an iPhone from 2007 — originally priced at $599 — for an Earth-shattering amount.

LCG Auctions, a collectibles group specializing in high-end products dating back to the '70s, '80s, and '90s, recently put up a 2007 model iPhone for auction. The highlight of this particular iPhone unit was the fact that the device was still in its original box. LCG claimed that this particular unit of the first-generation iPhone was in pristine condition, with even the retail box safely inside a layer of plastic film. The box itself was in very good condition, with all the original labels in excellent shape. LCG also went on to claim that it would be difficult for any collector to find another first-generation iPhone in a better condition than this.

Fresh off an original sealed iPhone selling for $35K last month, @lcgauctions is bringing one to its auction, which opens tomorrow and closes on 10/16. pic.twitter.com/TVBlE6NLv2

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 29, 2022

The unopened first-generation iPhone was first listed on LCG Auctions on September 30 with an initial bid price of $2,500. On the very same day and 10 bids later, the price had gone up to $5,896. By October 14, the bid price had moved up to $10,446. Things went into overdrive on October 16, after which the price of the item went from $11,491 to $32,783 in a matter of a few hours. In the end, someone ended up paying a staggering $39,339.60 for this really old but historically significant piece of technology.

For those unaware, the first-generation iPhone did not offer several features that we take for granted today. For example, it did not have the ability to install third-party apps (because there was no App Store yet), and the only apps it came preinstalled with were YouTube, Safari, and Weather. Unlike the imaging powerhouses that are today's iPhones, the first-gen iPhone came with a simple 2MP camera that could not even record videos.