In 2007, an Apple (AAPL) iPhone set tech enthusiasts back between $499 and $599. Sixteen years later, first-generation models have gotten a lot more expensive. A never-before-opened vintage iPhone will be sold off by Boston-based RR Auctions, with bids already in the five figures.
The 2007 smartphone, which will be sold in an online auction on August 24, has already doubled its estimate with a bid of more than $44,000, joining a slew of well-conserved Apple products that have brought in astounding figures on the secondary market in recent months. With its meager 8GB of storage, the phone comes from the collection of a longtime Apple employee. “It is a bittersweet moment to send my original iPhone to auction,” reads a letter written by the former employee accompanying the lot. “I know whoever has it next will cherish it as much as I have all these years.”
Developed in secrecy, the first-generation iPhone was revealed to the world by Steve Jobs, whose iconic keynote address described it as “a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any mobile phone.” The model ushered in new and innovative features, such as its touchscreen interface and the App Store, that would become standard on all phones. “The iPhone ushered in the modern age of the smartphone and catapulted Apple to the top of the world’s most valuable companies,” said Bobby Livingston, executive vice president of RR Auctions, in a statement.
The boxed and sealed iPhone is one of more than 70 lots in the auctioneer’s “Apple, Steve Jobs, Computer Hardware” sale, which also contains memorabilia like an Apple computer mouse prototype and an iPhone 11 autographed by Tim Cook. Many of the collectibles date to Apple’s inception in the 1970s. Fans of the company can purchase Apple’s second-ever check (a 1976 Wells Fargo bank check signed by Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and written out to circuit board company PCB Maker) or an advertisement draft for the Apple-1 computer handwritten by Jobs the same year. Meanwhile, a fully operational Apple-1 computer signed by Wozniak tops the lots with an estimate of $200,000.
A collector craze for Apple memorabilia
RR Auctions’ first-generation iPhone is far from the first Apple product to bring in significant demand at auction. In 2014, Bonhams sold an Apple-1 computer, one of the 50 hand-built by Wozniak in Jobs’ garage, for an astounding $905,000 to the Henry Ford Museum. Apple collectors have continued snapping up vintage models in recent years—and their interests stretch beyond technology. In November, an old pair of Birkenstocks worn by Steve Jobs during the early days of Apple sold for $200,000 at Los Angeles-based Julien’s Auctions. Originally sold for $2,000, the run-down shoes were recovered from the trash before heading to auction in 2016.
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Yet another pair of Apple-related shoes is currently being offered by Sotheby’s in its Buy Now marketplace. Priced at $50,000 and featuring the old-school rainbow Apple logo, the size 10.5 sneakers were custom-made for Apple employees for a giveaway at a National Sales Conference in the mid-1990s.
The ongoing Apple collectibles craze has led to the company’s first-generation iPhone becoming one of the most desirable products at auction. An unopened, factory-sealed model sold for $39,000 last October through Louisiana-based LCG Auctions, more than sixty-five times its original value. This figure was surpassed in February when the same auction house sold another iPhone for $63,000, which was then the highest sale price for an original iPhone. Just last month, the auction house broke its record yet again, auctioning off a 2007 model previously owned by a member of the original iPhone engineering team for a staggering $190,000.
