The specific iPhone up for auction is an 8GB model that originally sold for $599 when George W. Bush was president. Now it is worth more than 100 times more than the original price of the sticker. Perhaps unsurprisingly to anyone familiar with the vintage electronics collector market, this stratospheric price for an iPhone isn’t all that unusual and has happened a few times in the past.
The phone is unlikely to ever leave its cardboard and shrink wrap sarcophagus. First-generation iPhones are basically useless as actual phones, and this relic is little more than a glorified but historically significant iPod touch in 2023. The 8GB of storage won’t hold much, and iOS 16, the system iPhone’s current operating system, is not compatible. Unboxing a sealed stock iPhone for use would be like driving a stock Ford Model T to work. Using an antique like that would only serve to devalue it.
The auction will go live March 30 via Wright Auctions.
