iPhone 6 prototype eBay bids reach $100,000

An eBay user in the US put a phone up for sale which he claims is a prototype of the Apple iPhone 6.

The eBayer said his mother had accidentally been sent the phone by mobile firm Verizon when she upgraded to the iPhone 6.

It had attracted bids of more than $100,000 (£62,000), but has since been removed from sale.

Phone is in 'true developer mode'

The seller, using the account for kimberlyk1018, said: "For sale is a brand new, never used Apple iPhone 6 prototype. Apple does NOT let these phones out of their possession yet I was accidentally sent one upon renewing my contract. As you can see from the photos, iOS 8 has not been placed on this device, rather it is in true developer mode."

He added: "I am also giving a 110% guarantee on this being an authentic Apple prototype device. I cannot guarantee that it will make calls or that the camera will work. The device comes with the box, charger, headphones and wall charger as well as all the paperwork."

The software on the phone is clearly not the same as the one pre-installed when they are sent out to users. There's also no model number and a red charging port, which the seller said was proof it was a prototype.
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Phone 'only worth £930'

Cultofmac tracked the seller down, who said the phone had been bought by his mother, and she asked him for help when she thought the start-up screen looked odd.

He then put the phone up for sale on his sister's ebay account. The website quoted the seller as saying that he had initially been excited by the bids when they hit $4,000 (£2,500). However, once they reached $100,000 he suspected they were bogus.

Apple collectors told the website that the price had far exceeded the value of a prototype. Apple Insider pointed out that a prototype of the first generation iPhone sold for $1,500 (£930) on eBay last December, so this was far in excess of the value of the phone.

The seller told Cultofmac he is expecting to be contacted by Apple and to be told to end the auction, but he would be just as pleased with this outcome as he would with a sale, because he was such a fan of the company.

This morning, the auction has been closed down by the seller. There is no explanation as to why, so we can never know whether this was on the request of Apple, or whether he had second-thoughts about the sale.

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Weird eBay auctions

Sadly this particular unusual eBay auction is at an end. Fortunately, there's never a shortage of unusual items on the site, so you can still get your hands on:

A human soul from a New Yorker who is described as being kind-hearted and having a good sense of humour. He has listed it for a buy-it-now price of $2,700 (£1,680).

A potato from Colorado Springs, which is described as "barely used in near perfect condition fresh out of the box with no dents or scratches". It's up for sale for $1.04

And a 4-year-old fence post that gradually weathered until it appeared to show the face of an alien. The post apparently appeared on the Jay Leno show last year, and is on sale for $1,599 (£995). So far there are no bids.

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