[imagesource: Paul Sakuma /AP]

The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in January 2007.

The first model 3,5-inch screen device, equipped with a two-megapixel camera and 4 GB or 16 GB of storage, went on sale in June 2007.

The starting price then was only $599 – just over R10 000.

If you’d have bought the first-generation iPhone when it debuted and then sold it today, like this one person who is making headlines for doing just that, then you could have made a sizeable profit.

Fifteen years from that $599 price point and someone has just paid almost $40 000 for the same thing.

Business Insider reported that someone sold their original iPhone, unused and unopened, still in its original sealed box, for $39 339 at auction.

That’s just a bit over R700 000, which is over 65 times the original price when the device first came out:

Image: Apple

Sheesh. I feel major FOMO.

The antique was listed on LCG Auctions on September 30, estimated to fetch $30 000 or more on the auction block, which concluded on Sunday:

“Collectors and investors would be hard pressed to find a superior example,” the item description read. “Relevance and rarity comprise a winning formula for this red hot collectible.”

The old piece of tech only has a Safari web browser and not even Google, can you believe it?

But this best-selling Apple product has come a long way since 2007, with the newest iPhone today taking everything up a few notches.

The iPhone 14 has a 6,1-inch screen, a 12-megapixel camera, and up to 512 GB of storage – miles apart from that 2007 relic.

Image: Apple

If you buy one of those and leave it unopened and in its original iPhone box in the cupboard, who knows how much dosh you could make down the line if you sell it?

An iPhone 14 128 GB model sells at Digicape for R20 599, which is a high price to pay now but could land up being quite the investment in the future.

Or you could do a spring clean, possibly find an old iPhone in its box, cash that in and buy a few new ones.

Sticking to Apple is clearly pretty promising either way.

[source:businessinsider]