A first-generation iPhone has sold for a record-breaking price of $63,356 (approx Rs 52,00,000) at an auction, the highest sale ever recorded for an original 2007 iPhone.

On Sunday evening, an iPhone, still factory sealed, sold for $52,797 at a premier US auction house called LCG Auctions with a 20 percent buyer's premium fee bringing the total sale to over $60,000, according to iMore.

The device was originally owned by Karen Green, a cosmetic tattoo artist in the US, who received the 8GB smartphone as a congratulations gift for starting a new job in 2007.

According to iMore, when Green found out about the hike in prices of sealed original iPhones she couldn’t help but check the old device sitting on her shelf. "I thought to myself, 'Oh my God, I think I have the original,'" she told Business Insider.

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The original iPhone had a 3.5-inch screen and a single 2-megapixel camera; it cost $599 and was a far cry from the greatest iPhone available today, which has a 6.7-inch screen and a triple camera setup on the back with the main shooter being 48 megapixels.

The iPhone was initially only compatible with AT&T, an American multinational telecom provider, and was not compatible with any other carriers at launch.

Green decided to keep the first iPhone locked to prevent losing her Verizon phone lines (a Verizon is an American multinational telecoms firm).

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After 16 years, she has profited greatly from her choice to remain with Verizon, according to the report.

The cost of original iPhones has risen dramatically in recent years, with prices reaching as high as $39,000 last year for a sealed first-generation iPhone, it added.

Meanwhile, Apple's upcoming smartphone iPhone 15 Ultra is likely to launch at a starting price of $1,299, a significant increase from the iPhone 14 Pro Max's starting price of $1,099.

(With IANS Inputs)

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