What you need to know
- A USB-C iPhone has just been sold on eBay.
- The final price came in at $86,001.
- 116 bids were made for the iPhone X modified by an enthusiast.
The world's only USB-C iPhone, created by an enthusiast who modified an iPhone X has just sold on eBay for $86,001.
The auction closed at 11 am ET and is no longer listed on the site, however iMore can confirm the winning bid was $86,001. Bidding exploded last week shortly after the phone was posted. Ken Pillonel took an iPhone X and modified it to include a USB-C port for charging and data transfer, stating:
This is it. I've finally built the World's First iPhone with a USB Type-C port. It supports charging and data transfers. The first part was about getting the electronics to work. Then the next step was to reverse-engineer the Apple C94 connector and make my own PCB with a female USB C port. Then the schematics for the project were set and tested and the final was to make it fit inside the iPhone! I'm very happy to show you this mod in the form of a Youtube Short.
The auction went live on November 1, climbing steadily from $1,625 up to $14,800, before a big bid of $30,000 dropped. More outlandish bids followed through November 4, however, the hype didn't continue for the rest of the device's auction. When we reported on the price last week it was $85,000, climbing by only $1,001 in the remaining seven days. The price has actually dropped, a few bids have been retracted including several for between $86,000 and $90,000. A couple of spoof bids were noted for $1 million but turned out to be fake. Although you have to imagine Mr. Pillonel is still fairly happy with $85,000.
Who did this? pic.twitter.com/D9b0teEYnwWho did this? pic.twitter.com/D9b0teEYnw— iMore (@iMore) November 4, 2021November 4, 2021
The phone's new owner has secured a "true piece of collection for any Apple fanboy out there", but according to the device's listing conditions, agrees not to restore, update, or erase the phone, not to use it as their daily driver, and not to tinker with any of the internals. They also get a 30 minute call with its creator to ask any questions they want.
Earlier this week an ultra-rare Apple-1 computer from 1976 sold at auction in California for a whopping $500,000.
