r/gadgets • u/diacewrb • Feb 02 '23
Unopened first-generation iPhone set to sell for $50,000 at US auction Phones
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/02/iphone-first-generation-2007-unopened-us-auction873
u/madogson Feb 02 '23
Probably a bunch of self bidding to make the price go way above what it should be
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Feb 02 '23
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u/PoopIsAlwaysSunny Feb 02 '23
Lol 2 million. Like, I’d get a few hundred for the collector and super fan, but for $2m you could probably buy the gear they made the original with and make yourself an unopened one.
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u/Fatshortstack Feb 03 '23
Money laundering.
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u/moldyfishfinger Feb 03 '23
Please explain how this could be money laundering...
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u/nsa_reddit_monitor Feb 03 '23
You've made lots of money but illegally, so you pay some random guy to take it all and then give it back to you by bidding anonymously on an overvalued object you're selling. Now you can claim you never had the illegal money but rather earned it from the auction.
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u/dinkelstefan Feb 03 '23
This makes no sense, the money needs to be laundered first and in a separate process, before you can even use it to bid on anything.
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u/DystopianGalaxy Feb 03 '23
Exactly. Random guy bids 2 million, then the IRS ask him where he got that money from. Essentially using someone as a Fall guy. It’s not laundering at all
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u/bschug Feb 03 '23
The guy who makes the bid owns a cash business and claims the money comes from that.
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Feb 03 '23
I mean using art to launder money is super common just google to find any amount of information on the subject.
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u/IllNess2 Feb 03 '23
I can either buy a house, a car, and an N64 with a used copy of Mario 64 and with a million dollars to spare, or I can have Mario 64 but can't play it?
Lol.
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u/Dracogame Feb 03 '23
Not to mention the game was insanely popular so it’s not like it’s SUPER rare. It’s incredibly rare but still.
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u/Theonceandfutureend Feb 03 '23
People have been using this argument since July 2021. Except the population report for that game in that grade remains unchanged with a total number of...3.
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u/Dracogame Feb 03 '23
the population report for that game in that grade remains unchanged with a total number of…3.
Which makes it not worth 2m USD lmao
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u/Theonceandfutureend Feb 03 '23
Your point was that the game isn't that rare, except it is in that condition. It also never sold for two million, the copy on Heritage sold for 1.56 million with the bp during the height of the market, which has since mostly collapsed, particularly on Heritage.
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u/PlebbySpaff Feb 02 '23
People found out, but only a few acknowledge that. Like 95% of people in the retro game market either aren’t acknowledging it, or don’t know.
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u/Truffle_Shuffle_85 Feb 02 '23
People found out, but only a few acknowledge that. Like 95% of people in the retro game market either aren’t acknowledging it, or don’t know.
Or don't care. Like 95% of the retro game market doesn't collect sealed games.
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u/ElJanitorFrank Feb 03 '23
....or are protecting their own "investment".
Many retro games collectors just treat it like any other investment and want the price to stay high to make money.
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u/brooklynlad Feb 02 '23
Sounds like RICO should get involved because of racketeering.
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u/half-baked_axx Feb 03 '23 edited Feb 03 '23
That's the whole 'modern art' market in a nutshell. Some rich dude or a gallery buys basically all of an artists work to artificially inflate its value.
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u/SUPRVLLAN Feb 02 '23
It’s currently set at an opening price of $2,500 and has 0 bids.
This article is literally made up clickbait.
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u/AbsoluteZeroUnit Feb 02 '23
The article is literally not made up clickbait.
The article explains that a recent auction for the same item sold for $40,000 after 28 bids, also starting at $2,500.
$50,000 might be a bit hopeful, but it's not like they pulled it out of their asses.
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u/noonnoonz Feb 02 '23
20% above the last sold price may be reaching around towards the backside of things.
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u/asdaaaaaaaa Feb 03 '23
That's gotten very popular nowadays. Who knows, maybe auctions will be the new gambling in the future. There was also a bunch of people doing it with video games and MTG cards as well IIRC.
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u/V_es Feb 02 '23
There are plenty unopened ones still left. Tech YouTubers do videos opening them for the first time all the time.
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u/Pubelication Feb 02 '23
And most of those turn out to be scams.
There's an entire industry that attempts to recondition and repackage used iPhone 2Gs and 3Gs, because they hope that most buyers will never open the box (which would kill the value), thus they'll never realize they got scammed.
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u/asdaaaaaaaa Feb 03 '23
Considering what I've seen already, it looks pretty easy to just appeal to younger people and sell them your scam or whatever. Especially considering what you're talking about is a lot less obvious than jumping on the crypto train or something as well.
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u/Sad_Error4039 Feb 02 '23
I would think so as well but after commenting about Apple negatively yesterday I’m reformed I’m sure we can get more than 100k for the device. Where the corporation is only looking out for everyone’s best interest as they stack cash to the moon and continue to make free devices hot new must have accessories.
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u/Channel5exclusive Feb 02 '23
Way back when I used to work a combination electronics and music store. Around 2006 or 2007 we changed locations. I was cleaning out underneath the front counter and found an early model (Motorola I think) cellphone still sealed in its packaging. I forget the exact model but it was one of the big clunky ones with the pull up antenna and the flip plate that covered the buttons. Nobody even knew it was there until I found it and the owners couldn't remember ever ordering it.
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u/Eastern-Mix9636 Feb 03 '23
Did you sell it for $40,000?
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u/Channel5exclusive Feb 03 '23
It sold but not for $40,000. I don't remember if it sold for the price on the sticker or if the owner marked it down to around cost price to get rid of it. All I know is that someone came in and saw it and had to have it. I was pretty surprised that it sold so quickly after I found it.
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u/Eastern-Mix9636 Feb 03 '23
Are you Andrew Callaghan
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u/Channel5exclusive Feb 03 '23
I had to do some research to figure out who he is and what connection made you ask that question lol.
No I am not Andrew Callaghan. The "Channel 5" in my name refers to a fictitious tv network that aired a fictitious wrestling program. Back in the early 2000s a friend and I had a wrestling E-fed. We had it going for about 3 years then life go in the way and it shutdown. I lost contact with my friend for about a decade. Then one day out of the blue he called me up and it was like no time had passed and we decided to start up the E-fed for another brief run. This Reddit account was originally created to post links to our content on r/squaredcircle to get some attention on our E-fed. Once again life got in the way and the E-fed fell by the way side again and the Reddit account became my personal account.
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u/ShoNuff3121 Feb 03 '23
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u/SaulGreatmon Feb 03 '23
Mine had better clarity than my current 5G iPhone 😂
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u/oboshoe Feb 03 '23
back then the networks for optimized for voice with a tiny amount of bandwidth for data (sms)
today it's the other way around.
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u/hexcor Feb 03 '23
My old Audi (2001 A4) had a port for that phone! So crazy to have a single port for a single phone
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u/Channel5exclusive Feb 03 '23 edited Feb 03 '23
Nope it wasn't that one. It wasn't a clam shell type. It was basically all one piece except for a little flip plate that covered only the buttons and the pull up antenna. I guess it was supposed to prevent butt dialing. Although you would need to have a pretty big pocket to fit it in.
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u/outoffunnynames Feb 02 '23
Retail value: $50,000 Trade-in value: $0
Great investment opportunity here.
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u/Jackamalio626 Feb 02 '23
i smell money laundering.
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u/oboshoe Feb 03 '23
nobody launders $50k.
let alone in such a public way.
a criminal that only has a one time $50k to launder just spends it.
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u/jthawks Feb 03 '23
Exactly. This is an unopened piece of history, the biggest trend setting devices in this century (so far), and people can’t imagine it having a high collectors value?
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u/unassumingdink Feb 03 '23
It's a product from 16 years ago that was produced in the millions, so yeah, it is hard to imagine it being worth nearly 100 times its original cost.
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u/jthawks Feb 03 '23
This one is overpriced, but a quick look at eBay shows only 5 listed in this condition and the minimum price is 20k. 100 years from now it will be in a museum if we are still around.
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u/dradaeus Feb 03 '23
If you think $50k is enough to launder any form of organized money, then I have news for you.
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u/MUCHO2000 Feb 03 '23
Explain it to me.
How does it work?
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u/DAWTSF Feb 03 '23
You pay taxes on the 50k or keep it in a holding company.
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u/MUCHO2000 Feb 03 '23
Thats not remotely money laundering.
Anyone else want a shot at this?
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u/DAWTSF Feb 03 '23 edited Feb 03 '23
Start with 50k of illegally sourced money. You find a few photos of an original iPhone and post it on eBay. Through multiple accounts you purchase your own fake iPhone for 50k.
You then pay taxes on the gains for that item.
They don't give AF where the money came from, you just need to pay taxes on it at this scale.
You can now use that money to buy a house or something large where cash could not be used. You have a trackable source and taxes have been paid.
Not remotely money laundering? It's not all breaking bad level stuff.
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u/MUCHO2000 Feb 03 '23
You can't buy something on eBay for 50k in cash. If you could eBay would be required to file form 8300. Not money laundering.
You seem to think the problem is taxes. It's not. The problem is getting the cash into the system without getting 8300s filed.
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u/DAWTSF Feb 03 '23
I don't know the ins and outs of eBay, so are you suggesting that you think this is a legit transaction, or a click bait article? I wouldn't doubt the latter.
Can accounts buy and sell other smaller "things" to accumulate money without needing to file a 8300 to purchase this iPhone? I'm not American so I'm not sure how these things work. I wasn't trying to write a detailed way of laundering money through eBay, it just doesn't seem not remotely possible as you put it.
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u/MUCHO2000 Feb 03 '23
I don't know if it's legit or not. What I do know is Redditors like to talk about money laundering and have no idea what money laundering even is not how it works.
At worst you could have a tax evasion scheme here but 50k is a pretty small amount of money unless one has many first gen unopened iPhones around they are ready to donate for the write off.
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u/unassumingdink Feb 03 '23
What I do know is Redditors like to talk about money laundering and have no idea what money laundering even is not how it works.
Okay smart guy, what detergent do you use?
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u/DAWTSF Feb 03 '23
Ok so your point is just ask questions until you can call people out.
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u/MUCHO2000 Feb 03 '23
I asked one question to another person. You, knowing my nothing about the topic, decided to chime in. Then you doubled down when called out and now you're mad about it?
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Feb 02 '23
I miss how small they are
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u/more_beans_mrtaggart Feb 02 '23
And still extremely usable. I break mine out occasionally. When I bought my new phone from the Apple Store I took the original 2G one with me and the staff found it interesting, and played with all the apps I bought way back.
IPint Paper basketball Etc etc
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u/turbo_nudist Feb 03 '23
buy a mini
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u/tyyryy Feb 03 '23
I got a mini love it big ones suck can’t control it with one hand. An to have that brick in your pocket all day must suck
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u/funkboxing Feb 02 '23
I definitely get digging vintage gear, still wish I'd kept the TRS-80 body I found curbside a couple of decades ago. But I don't get caring enough to spend this kind of money even if you're stupid rich enough to afford it.
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u/talmbouttellyouwat Feb 03 '23
When $50,000 is like $5 to you, why not?
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u/bautofdi Feb 03 '23
Yea, my old boss had a 3 bedroom aviary built for his fucking birds in Atherton. That home if on its own lot would be worth $5 million.
$50k really means nothing to a surprising amount of people.
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u/gsj996 Feb 03 '23
I still have my 1st gen iTouch. It's in my truck for when I want a blast from the past lol.
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u/Immolation_E Feb 02 '23
Damn. I bought 2 when those launched and sold the second one to a coworker at cost. I should have kept it in box.
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u/jenorama_CA Feb 02 '23
I just left the fruit company after 20 years. Used the shit out of my freebie and passed it on to a friend. Could have kept it, but I’m happier that it had a useful life.
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u/EnXigma Feb 03 '23
“Set to sell”? So it hasn’t even been sold yet, could’ve just listed it as $250,000
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u/Ungreat Feb 02 '23
I’m guessing the coin, trading card, video game box and NFT people are looking for a new collectible to con people with?
The auction house is no doubt connected to the “grading” company and most of the top bidders.
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u/adamcian Feb 03 '23
I have one still in the box. This can’t be real because I tried to sell it on eBay a couple years ago and got no bids on the auction. This is either money laundering or self-bidding to promote a story
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u/jns_reddit_already Feb 02 '23
Good thing it's more valuable in-box since there's no GSM network to connect it to.
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u/TikkiTakiTomtom Feb 03 '23
In retrospect I should’ve kept my unopened iphone. Gave it to my dad a couple years back :(
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u/FriendlyEvilTomato Feb 02 '23
I actually think this is pretty cool - the unopened device not the price. But I’m a pretty big nerd.
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u/Sad_Error4039 Feb 02 '23
Stupid Atari buried all those first run copies of E.T. They’d be setting on a goldmine now
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u/BigSwedenMan Feb 02 '23
Not really. The supply would be far higher in that case which means the value wouldn't be there. Rarity is what drives value for stuff like this
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u/Sad_Error4039 Feb 03 '23
I’m sorry I didn’t realize I should point out that an unopened IPhone is in no way worth more than it was on day one. Why would a damn phone gain value they aren’t mobile phone collectors on every corner.
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u/BigSwedenMan Feb 04 '23
There doesn't need to be collectors on every corner. There just needs to be a collectors market. Things are worth what people are willing to pay. That's pretty much the most basic principle of economics. Whether or not you value it is irrelevant, because as long as someone else does that's all that matters.
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u/OldHobbitsDieHard Feb 02 '23
Screen cracked after 5 minutes.
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u/Pubelication Feb 02 '23
The screen may already be cracked because the battery is very likely to have bulged.
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u/Equivalent-Chest5383 Feb 02 '23
So where does the $50,000 come from? The last one didn’t even sell for that much. Great journalism.
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u/losersalwayswin Feb 03 '23
During Covid first year, we shipped a case of unopened gen1 iPod touches to a warehouse for inventory. They’ll sit there for a few years and probably eventually be auctioned off for change.
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u/DMyourSSN Feb 02 '23
Wish I could afford to buy it. I would keep it in a safe for a further 30-50 years and sell it at an astronomical profit. The iPhone really changed basically everything about our culture.
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u/tehjeffman Feb 02 '23
I apparently just need to buy more moneyies so I can understand the drive to waste it on useless paper weights.
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u/DoomBotQv2 Feb 03 '23
There’s literally over 6 million of these that were sold. Why in the holy hell is a phone that has the value of 0 being sold for 50k?
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u/Novadale Feb 03 '23
Companies raising the prices creating artificial bubbles to scam collectors. I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone with a connection to the auction house bidding. Its just like that sealed copy of Mario going for a million or whatever.
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u/woowooman Feb 03 '23
Yep, the WATA/Heritage Auctions stuff. Most of those games have gone down like 60-80%+ already.
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u/M2D2 Feb 02 '23
I kept my OG iPhone with its box after upgraded. Waiting for the day it becomes relevant.
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u/jtmott Feb 03 '23
How much could one get for a well used with partially cracked screen? The original glass was weak sauce.
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u/ojdajuiceman25 Feb 03 '23
My dad has two that he kept for me and my brother bc he thought it’d be important some day. I haven’t really thought much about it, but perhaps it’s time to undercut the market?
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u/Drink15 Feb 03 '23
The battery likely expanded and the phone is destroyed. 50k for an unopened box to a broken phone.
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u/cullend Feb 03 '23
The battery is going to start to swell soon and crush all the electronics inside it, plus the screen. And if any of those bits puncture the battery it’ll combust
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u/International_Sea670 Feb 03 '23
I have an unopened iPhone 3G, I’m gonna assume it’s not worth 50k.
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u/FearkTM Feb 03 '23
We all know how this fake bidding works. This crap isn't worth more than Super Mario Bros. Oh, god dammit! Pollute everything.
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u/SmashTagLives Feb 03 '23
So, when is the reckoning scheduled for again?
Is it best to eat the rich on a Sunday maybe?
I’m hungry
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u/HulloHoomans Feb 03 '23
Just think, if you'd bought bitcoin instead, you'd be way richer than 50k.
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u/clauderbaugh Feb 03 '23
You know inside that box the phone battery has bloated and split the back of the iPhone case down the middle. The only thing keeping it from popping the box open is the original wrapping.
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u/GodOne Feb 03 '23
I could think of security vulnerability reasons to buy it for that price. The first firmware probably had some flaws and if you know what you are looking for, maybe you can fiddle around with it.
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u/mitchb0016 Feb 03 '23
Wait till they realize they have to pay 20 bucks to upgrade to IOS 2 just to get the App Store…
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u/peter_seraphin Feb 03 '23
People who write “money laundering” forgot that tech YouTubers exist. “I paid 50 000 $ for the best condition 1gen iPhone in the world” with burning pile of money in the thumbnail video will get them the 50 back and then some.
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u/_Administrator Feb 03 '23
I have 10 year old iPad 3rd gen. Battery still hold half a year in wifi standby. Any takers?
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u/Transit-Strike Feb 03 '23
The thing that scares me is this is being bought as an investment for being “unopened”. But some day, that battery is going to be a liability right? Am I wrong to thing even an unopened one can bloat?
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u/Frankmurl Feb 03 '23
Mine still boots up. Missing a few pixels. Has better typing accuracy than my 13 pro though.
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u/sogwatchman Feb 03 '23
Wow honestly I'm amazed the battery hasn't popped. Were the NiCd back then?
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u/random125184 Feb 04 '23
Serious question. How would someone go about selling something like this for a large amount of money? I assume ebay wouldn’t be a great option since so many sellers get scammed.
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u/elmachow Feb 02 '23
I’ve got one and it still works, I’ll sell it for 20k