By Ashoka | Feb 22, 2023
TECH NEWS
An online auction sold a factory-sealed first-generation iPhone for $63,356.40 (approximately Rs 52.4 lakh). The record-breaking LCG Auctions sale included a 20% buyer's premium fee.
The auction began on February 2 with a starting bid of $2,500 and eventually reached $60,000 when it was sold. It is the highest price ever paid for an original iPhone, according to LCG Auctions, a premier auction house in the US.
According to the LCG Auctions website, Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone at the Macworld conference in 2007 (16 years ago). On June 29th, it was released at retail for $499/$599.The original iPhone had 4/8 GB of storage, a revolutionary touchscreen, a 2-megapixel camera, and a web browser.
Karen Green, a cosmetic tattoo artist in New Jersey, received the expensive iPhone after landing a new job. However, the phone was only compatible with AT&T mobile networks, and because Green was using Verizon at the time, the phone was stored and forgotten.
Green had the phone validated in 2019, and it was valued at $5,000. She hung up the phone for a few moments longer before auctioning it off to raise funds for a business venture. The auction began on February 2 with a starting bid of $2,500 and reached $60,000 when it was sold.