What makes this iPhone ‘rare’
For starters, it is the first release 4GB model, which is factory sealed. “Virtually flawless along the surface and edges, the factory seal is clean with correct seam details and tightness. Labels on the reverse are correctly pristine beneath the seal,” noted the description of the item on the auction house’s website.
Further, it had never been activated and “the phone’s provenance is pristine as the consignor was part of the original engineering team at Apple when the iPhone first launched.”
The auction house noted that the “original 4GB model is considered a “Holy Grail” amongst iPhone collectors.” It is rare because the 4GB model made its debut alongside the 8GB model in June 2007. However, it was 8GB model which comfortably outsold the 4GB model. “The lagging sales resulted in Apple making the decision to discontinue the 4GB model on September 5th, 2007, just over two months after it was first released,” said the auction house, which is what makes it rather rare to find.
Prior to this sale, the most someone had paid for an ‘old’ iPhone model was $63,000, which is close to Rs 52 lakh. The original cost of the 4GB iPhone was $499, which means that it sold for a whopping 318 times more at the auction.