First-generation iPhone with closed box sold at auction for $63,356

A first-generation iPhone with a closed box was sold at auction for $63,356. It is an 8-gigabyte model of the iPhone, released June 29, 2007 and selling for $599 at the time.

According to Cnet.com, bidding at LCG Auctions began in early February at $2,500, while the phone was expected to sell for $50,000. Only 27 bids were received. The final bid was almost 106 times higher than the price of the smartphone in 2007.

According to a source, Karen Green, a former smartphone owner, is now very glad she didn't trade it in for a more modern iPhone. Three years ago, she appeared on an episode of the Doctor and Diva series "Treasure Hunt Tuesday" when her iPhone was worth $5,000. According to the site, he may have been further convinced of the need to auction off the smartphone by the fact that another first-generation iPhone sold in a closed box last October for $39,340, with the auction house claiming that his phone could sell for at least $50,000.

The site notes that Karen Green also owes something to the cellular carriers for not opening the box of the iPhone and using it. In a February interview with Business Insider, Green said that when her friends gave her an iPhone in 2007, she had three Verizon cell phone numbers, and the iPhone only worked with AT&T. So instead of wasting time and money and switching to another carrier, she just put the iPhone aside.

Green explained that she decided to sell the iPhone only because she had opened her own cosmetic tattoo studio in New Jersey last year, and the new business needed investment. Otherwise, she was going to keep the rarity smartphone for another ten years.

The last time an iPhone of the same model in factory packaging sold at the fall LCG (London Capital Group) Auctions 2022 for $39,339.60. That's 25 percent more than auctioneers expected. The starting price of the device was $2,500, and the organizers were expecting to get $30,000 for it. The auction, which ran from September 30 to October 16, 2022, received 28 bids and the final bid was $39,339.60.