An unopened first generation iPhone with 4 GB of memory (model A1203, MA501LL/A 4GB) was sold at LCG (London Capital Group) Auctions for $158,644. With all commissions, taxes and fees, this rarity cost a new buyer $190,372. This is more than three times more expensive than other first factory-packed iPhones previously sold at auction, and more than three hundred times the original cost of a smartphone.
The initial cost of the lot was $10,000. According to the explanation of the auction, this copy belonged to one of the employees of the Apple engineering team that worked on the creation of the first iPhone. The device has intact packaging, has never been activated” and is in “exceptional condition”.
Apple released a small batch of the first iPhones in 2007 with 4 GB of memory for $499 and then discontinued it due to the fact that almost immediately buyers were more likely to take the smartphone model with 8 GB of memory for $599. The company later released a 16GB variant for $499 and dropped the price of the 8GB model to $399.
