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Alleged first-gen iPhone prototype sells for $1,499 on eBay

While past devices claiming to be internal iPhone prototypes have been pulled from listings, such a rare device sold for nearly $1,500 on eBay today from a seller based in the Australia called ‘applefancollector’.

Here it goes! My wife says I have too much stuff, so I have to reduce my collection.

I am selling a very rare original iPhone engineering prototype. These were used to test the
iPhone’s various features. To do so, a special test software was installed, which is still running
on the device perfectly.

This is device is especially rare, as it shows the initial iOS version installed and the signal
strength values etched on the back. This was done by Apple internally and is guaranteed genuine.

While the authenticity and how the seller acquired the device remains unclear, the non-standard iPhone software running on the device matches similar instances of such devices.

The device which sold also appears to be in excellent condition as it wasn’t used as a phone adding to its worth. The auction reached upwards of $500 in this instance before it sold at its listing price of $1,499.

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Brian Hogan tells the story of finding the iPhone 4 prototype in Reddit ‘Ask me anything’ thread

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Brian Hogan, the then 21yo student who found an iPhone 4 prototype in a Silicon Valley bar back in 2010, is telling the story and answering questions in an ‘Ask me anything’ thread on Reddit.

Hogan found the phone on the bar of the Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City after it was accidentally left there by Apple engineer Gray Powell, and arranged to sell it to Gizmodo for $8000 – a sum he says he never received. 

Gizmodo told me they would give me $5,000 for the story, and another $3,000 after it was confirmed by Apple to be real. They knew that there was no way in hell I was going to be able to ask for the $3,000 after the story aired, but I didn’t. I ended up having to hire and expensive lawyer and had to pay him much much more than $5,000 … 
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