A first-generation iPhone sold at auction this Sunday for $190,373 (approximately €169,756), nearly 380 times its original price of $499 when the innovative device went on sale in 2007.
LCG Auctions, which organized the sale, revealed on Tuesday that the 4 gigabyte (GB) iPhone model was 20 times rarer than the 8 GB model released at the same time, for a price of US$599 (approximately 534 euros).
The situation arises mainly because the 4 GB model was discontinued two months after launch due to customer preference for larger memory capacity.
“A new standard was set on Sunday night. We are thrilled to be a part of this fantastic record sale,” said Mark Montero, founder of LCG Auctions.
This is the third original iPhone to sell for a record price at auction.
An 8GB model sold for $63,356 (approximately 56,494 euros) in February and another 8GB model for $39,340 (approximately 35,079 euros) in October 2022.
All were factory sealed in their original packaging.
The iPhone is one of the most successful electronic products in the world and helped make Apple the first publicly traded company with a market value of $3 billion.
The Cupertino, California-based company reached this record 16 years after the first iPhones were sold.
Source: TSF
