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Short Summary
Main recommendation: The video documents Marques Brownlee buying and inspecting a sealed original iPhone, exploring how scammers reseal used iPhones as untouched originals and how one can try to verify authenticity. The video's creator, Marques Brownlee, bought a factory-sealed 2007 original iPhone for about $40,000 at a live auction, then unboxed and tested it to judge whether it was genuinely untouched. He concludes, after inspection, that it is a legitimately brand new and unopened iPhone, based on the seal, packaging, and difficulty activating it, though he acknowledges some trust is involved.
Key Points
- Sealed, unopened original iPhones are the most sought-after items in the collector world, and their value far exceeds that of used originals; only about 6 million first-generation iPhones were ever sold.
- Scammers reseal used original iPhones and sell them as untouched, and some YouTubers have been fooled after spending thousands of dollars.
- Recent sale prices were about $60,000 (February auction, a record), $55,000 (March auction), and $40,000 for the "Lucky You" sticker unit, which Brownlee bought.
- Auction-house x-rays only confirmed that the accessories were in the box, not that the phone itself had never been touched.
- The phone had never been registered with Apple's serial number checker, meaning it was never activated by the original owner, though Brownlee notes that alone doesn't prove it was never opened.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: To check a sealed phone's authenticity, examine the shrink wrap and factory seal for age and quality, check that the accessories are present and original, look for the Apple serial number in Apple's checker (an unregistered result is consistent with never being activated), and test whether it powers on. Brownlee expected the 16-year-old battery would not power on, and said it booting up would have been a red flag; it did not turn on at that point. When testing charging, he found the original brick (not the cable) was the component that got it charging; he also suggests that an old iTunes version can be used to attempt activation and see how far the phone gets past the boot screen.
- The auction ran live with bidders online, the minimum opening bid was $32,000, and the final price was increased by sales tax, a bidding premium, and shipping.
- The box contained the original sealed accessories: a USB-A wall brick, a 30-pin dock with a headphone jack, a 30-pin to USB-A cable, EarPods, a microfiber cloth, a "Finger Tips" guide, and documents. The "Lucky You" sticker is upside down and its meaning remains unknown, even to Apple staff Brownlee asked.
- The included SIM card was an oversized original-size card, and the phone was an AT&T/Cingular exclusive at launch.
- Brownlee notes that the phone's value is now dramatically less than what he paid, a loss he accepts.
Bottom Line
Verifying a collectible's authenticity takes more than visual inspection and auction paperwork, and the video shows how much trust, rather than proof, is involved in pricing a sealed vintage phone.
