This unopened, first generation iPhone from 2007 was auctioned for over Rs 52 lakh

An unopened, first-generation iPhone has fetched $63,356.40 (Rs 52.47 lakh) at an auction, more than 105 times than what it cost back in 2007.

The owner of the phone is American Karen Green, who didn’t want to sell the phone and wanted to hold on to it for the next ten years but has a business that needs the money. The phone was sold by LCG Auctions and closed on February 19 fetching 27 bids. The winning bid was $63,356.40 for a base price of $2,500.

“One of the most important and ubiquitous inventions of our lifetime, the iPhone was first introduced by Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007 at MacWorld San Francisco. Just over five months later it was released at retail for $499/$599 on June 29th. The original iPhone included 4/8 GB of storage, an innovative touchscreen, a 2-megapixel camera, and a web browser. The iconic box featured a life-size image of the iPhone with 12 icons on the screen. It quickly became Apple’s most successful product, forever changed the smartphone industry, and was named the Time Magazine Invention of the Year in 2007,” the auction site described the first iPhone.

The backstory of the unopened phone is very unique. Green’s friends gifted her the phone back in 2007 after she secured a management job. But she had three other phone lines and decided to keep the wrapped box safely.