The first 2001 iPod in a sealed box sold at auction for a record $40,264

Old gadgets are sometimes more valuable than new flagships. At RR Auction in August, the first iPod from 2001 was sold - and not just used, but in a perfectly sealed box. The price was a dizzying $40,264 (including RR Auction's 25 per cent commission).

By comparison, the iPod cost only $399 in 2001. That is, in 24 years, its value has increased about 100 times. The previous record price for the first iPod was $29,000 in 2023, but the new result clearly broke the bar.

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The iPod was a watershed moment for Apple. In October 2001, Steve Jobs took it straight out of his pocket, showing the public "1,000 songs in your pocket." Against the backdrop of Apple's financial problems in the late 90s, it was the iPod that brought the company back to popularity and money.

The specs seemed like a miracle at the time: a 5GB hard drive, up to 10 hours of music, a proprietary scroll wheel for one-handed operation and support for MP3, WAV and AIFF. The device weighed just 185g and was less than 2cm thick.

Interestingly, at the same auction sold another "rarity" - the first iPhone with a rare memory capacity of 4 GB. Its price was $81,989. For comparison: in 2007 it cost $499.

Today such purchases are not about technology, but about collectors who are ready to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a piece of history that once fit in their pocket.

Source: MacRumors