The earliest archived pages of this domain date from early 2007, when the iPhone had been announced but nobody outside Apple had used one. The pages people wrote then were mostly about one question: who would pay $500 for a phone? Nineteen years later, here is the answer, with the numbers checked.
The price: $499, on contract
Apple announced the iPhone on January 9, 2007 at Macworld in San Francisco. It went on sale in the US on June 29, 2007, at $499 for 4 GB and $599 for 8 GB, and only with a two-year contract on AT&T. There was no unlocked model and no subsidy: the contract came on top of the full price.
Two months later, on September 5, Apple discontinued the 4 GB model and cut the 8 GB one to $399. Early buyers had paid $200 more for the same phone. After a wave of complaints Steve Jobs published an open letter and offered them a $100 Apple Store credit, an episode that probably taught Apple more about pricing than any focus group.
On September 10, 2007, Apple announced it had sold its one millionth iPhone, 74 days after launch. Jobs noted that the first iPod had needed almost two years to reach the same number.
Europe: £269 and €399, again on contract
The iPhone reached the UK on November 9, 2007, sold through O2 at £269 for 8 GB with an 18-month contract. France followed on November 29 with Orange, at €399 with a contract. Orange also sold it without a plan at €649, and unlocked at €749, which makes France one of the few places where you could buy an unlocked first-generation iPhone legally.
| Market | Launch date | Price | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | June 29, 2007 | $499 (4 GB), $599 (8 GB) | Two-year AT&T contract |
| United States | September 5, 2007 | $399 (8 GB) | Two-year AT&T contract |
| United Kingdom | November 9, 2007 | £269 (8 GB) | 18-month O2 contract |
| France | November 29, 2007 | €399 (8 GB) | With an Orange plan |
| France | November 29, 2007 | €749 (8 GB) | Unlocked |
The specs, and what was missing
| Spec | Original iPhone |
|---|---|
| Screen | 3.5-inch, 320 x 480 pixels, 163 ppi, multi-touch |
| Storage | 4 GB or 8 GB (16 GB added in 2008) |
| Camera | 2 MP, photos only, no video |
| Network | Quad-band GSM with EDGE, plus Wi-Fi |
| Battery | 1,400 mAh |
| Weight | 135 g |
The list of what it could not do was long: no 3G, no third-party apps (the App Store arrived a year later), no copy and paste, no MMS, no GPS, no video recording, no way to change the battery. Reviewers listed all of it, and most still called it the best phone they had used.
What it got right
- The screen was the interface. No stylus, no keyboard, no buttons except one. Every smartphone since is a slab of glass.
- The real web. Safari loaded full pages rather than the stripped "mobile web" of the time, and pinch-to-zoom made them readable.
- Visual voicemail. A small feature that showed Apple had renegotiated what a carrier was allowed to control on the phone.
- Updates. Features arrived through free software updates. That idea, that a phone gets better after you buy it, is now the main reason an iPhone keeps its value.
Apple sold about 6.1 million first-generation iPhones before the iPhone 3G replaced it in July 2008. The 3G cut the US price to $199 on contract, and the model of a subsidised flagship lasted until the mid-2010s. The price history page follows every generation since.
Quick answers
When did the first iPhone come out?
It was announced on January 9, 2007 and went on sale in the US on June 29, 2007. The UK got it on November 9 and France on November 29, 2007.
How much was the original iPhone in today's money?
Adjusted with the US consumer price index, $499 from June 2007 is close to $800 in 2026 dollars. That is close to the $699 of today's cheapest iPhone, but the 2007 price also required a two-year contract.
Can you still use a 2007 iPhone?
Barely. It only supports 2G EDGE networks, which most carriers in the US and many in Europe have shut down, and its software has not been updated since 2010. It is a collector's item now.
