A rare iPhone from 2007 is up for auction and tipped to sell for over $100,000.
The sealed model was a failure when launched, making it an extremely desirable buy for iPhone collectors.
The 4GB iPhone was released in 2007.
It was the first smart phone. It changed the world.
But at the same time customers were offered an 8GB version.
The vast majority chose to pay the extra $100 or so needed to get double the storage.
So few people bought the 4GB model that it was discontinued after just 2 months.
In the collecting world, failure can often mean success.
This sale pits the 4GB and 8GB models up against each other again.
The 4GB opened with a bid of $10,000, twice that asked for the bigger model. It carries an estimate of $100,000 and up. The 8GB model should sell for between $30,000 and $50,000 say the auctioneers.
Both phones are sealed in their original packaging with plastic wrapping.
Apple is perhaps the most collectible modern tech brand.
And it’s not just the gear.
Steve Jobs with an iPhone. The late Apple founder has a devoted, and rich, following in the collectibles world.
Items associated with the company’s co-founder Steve Jobs are starting to reach astronomical prices.
A prototype Apple 1 computer he owned sold for $677,196 in 2022.
Signatures routinely make thousands of dollars, and 10s or 100s of thousands if they are on important documents like the Apple founding contract that sold for $1.5 million in 2011.
Jobs has rock-star status in the collectibles market now; a pair of sandals he owned realised over $200,000 in 2022.
This phone may not break the iPhone record. That currently stands at $190,373 for a sale last year. Another 2023 auction saw one go for $133,435.
Bidding currently stands at $11,000 and the sale closes on March 24.
