Man spent $40,000 to unbox a sealed original iPhone and is shocked by what he finds inside

The year 2007 marked a lot of iconic releases. From Britney Spears’ album Blackout, to Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille, and of course, the very first iPhone.

New tech will always be the talk of the town. Several iPhones later, the original iPhone is still a subject of intrigue and interest. As any collector will tell you, getting your hands on an old gadget in its original packaging will cost a pretty penny.

The first ever iPhone — known as the iPhone 2G or first generation — was unveiled by Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs 17 years ago in 2007. It cost $499 for the 4GB model and $599 for the 8GB model. In recent years, original iPhones have sold for as much as $63,000 at auction.

One Apple fanatic managed to get his hands on an original, sealed iPhone. Marques Brownlee bought the groundbreaking phone for $40,000 — and luckily for us, he broke the seal and showed us everything inside the box.

He begins by telling his subscribers that the most ‘sought after tech in the collector world is the factory-sealed, unopened, original iPhone’. This is understandably very rare, because who would buy a new gadget and not use it? Smart people, apparently. Perhaps they had an inkling that the iPhone would be worth a fortune in the years to come…

Brownlee says sometimes people re-seal used original iPhones and sell them as if they have never been used. A lot of effort goes into making the scam look as believable as possible.

When the YouTuber won the auction for the iPhone he paid $40,320 for it. The sellers sent it in a massive wooden box. He initially offered to pay $32,000 before the price jumped massively during the auction.

This is what he finds in the box (Marques Brownlee)

After unscrewing the box and peeling back the bubble wrap, Brownlee finds the brand new (but also very old) iPhone. The box has a ‘lucky you’ sticker, which he eventually discovers was used sometimes if the phone was intended as a gift.

Thankfully, the phone is a factory-sealed new phone that has not been used before. He finds the documents for using and operating the phone, and a microfiber screen cleaner, plus Apple stickers. The box has a sealed USB-A wall plug, a 30-pin dock with a headphone jack, a 30-pin charging and data couple, plus old school earphones.

All the signs suggest the $40,000 iPhone is authentic (Marques Brownlee)

Unfortunately, the iPhone did not turn on originally because the battery is so old but he is eventually able to charge it.

The current iPhone is the 16. It is available in five different shades - white, black, ultra marine, teal and pink - which all come with an aero-space grade aluminium finish. The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus start at $799 and $899.