Are you hoarding any old mobile phones at home? It turns out you could be sitting on a goldmine.
This week, a bidder paid $39,000 (£34,700) for an unopened first generation iPhone – more than 50 times its original price.
Unfortunately, it’s very unlikely you’ll get this much for your old gadgets, but research by Protect Your Bubble suggests you could still make a decent profit.
According to the website, the original iPhone model is selling for an average of £542.55 on eBay, while the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X fetches an average price of £1,776.01.
Here’s a look at the retro handsets that could earn you the most cash.
Are you hoarding any old mobile phones at home? It turns out you could be sitting on a goldmine
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X (pictured) was the world’s first portable mobile phone, weighing a whopping 784 g (1.75 lbs), and was worth £3,000 in the UK in 1985. Now, it is the most profitable handset to flog online, selling for an average price of £1,776.01
The HTC Touch Diamond2 (pictured) is the second most profitable, with £542.90 made from just one sale this year. This was released in 2009, a year after the second generation iPhone 3G was released, and was branded as a ‘personal digital assistant’ from Windows
Coming third is the original iPhone model (left), referred to unofficially as the ‘iPhone 1’ or ‘iPhone 2G’, which sells for an average price of £542.55. It is followed by the second generation iPhone, the iPhone 3G (right), which goes for an average of £301.68
Research has revealed that UK households are storing an estimated 527 million unwanted electrical items.
That is the equivalent of 20 discarded devices per home, with mobile phones being the most hoarded piece of tech.
According to Ofcom, 45 per cent of UK households have two mobile phones, while research from giffgaff revealed nearly 30 million people are hanging onto an old one.
Experts from Protect Your Bubble have discovered which brands and models will fetch the biggest resale value on eBay.
While the retro DynaTAC is the most valuable, it doesn’t have a huge market, as only 12 have been sold in the last year.
After that, the HTC Touch Diamond2 is the second most profitable, with £542.90 made from just one sale this year.
This was released in 2009, a year after the second generation iPhone 3G was released, and was branded as a ‘personal digital assistant’ from Windows.
It was the first device to feature the TouchFLO 3D interface, which gave it an easy-to-use array of icons, making it a credible alternative to the Apple handsets.
The HTC Touch Diamond2 is worth £528.94 more than its predecessor the HTC Touch Diamond, which has been sold for just £13.42.
Coming third is the original iPhone model, referred to unofficially as the ‘iPhone 1’ or ‘iPhone 2G’, which sells for an average price of £542.55.
The first iPhone was introduced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs in January 2007 at MacWorld San Francisco, with the slogan ‘Apple reinvents the phone’.
That June, the 8 GB version was released to the public at $599 – or £269 at the time – and it became Apple’s most successful product.
Its iconic touchscreen and layout of apps forever changed the smartphone industry, and was named the Time Magazine Invention of the Year in 2007.
In the last year, sellers have grossed £33,100 overall from the sales of 61 handsets.
Completing the top six are the iPhone 3G, Motorola RAZR2 and Motorola Microtac 9800X, which sell for an average of £308.68, £239.25 and £239.36 respectively.
The Nokia 7280 is the eighth most valuable retro phone sold on eBay, and has an average price of £180.44. It was known as the ‘lipstick’ phone and had a spinner instead of a keypad
The device with the highest number of sales between May 2021 and May 2022 was the Nokia 6630 (left), with 1,614 units sold. The Nokia 6310i (right) from 2002 is the highest grossing retro phone, as sales of them raked in £68,517 in just 12 months
However, while these devices bring in the most money individually, they are not necessarily the most in-demand.
The device with the highest number of sales between May 2021 and May 2022 was the Nokia 6630, with 1,614 units sold.
The Nokia 6630 is said to be the first dual-modem tri-band handset designed to work on 3G, EDGE and 2G networks, and was released in 2004.
It’s a cheap device, with an average selling price of £4.23, but still managed to gross £6,827 over the 12-month period.
In second place is the Nokia 6310i with 1,444 sales, and in third is the BlackBerry Bold with 1,417 sold.
As 17 of the top 20 most in-demand devices are Nokias, their classic keypad is clearly a draw for retro phone collectors.
This trend is maintained for the top 20 highest grossing mobiles, as 15 of these were also Nokia handsets.
The third highest grossing and third highest demand retro phone was the BlackBerry Bold (pictured). This year, in January, BlackBerry’s legacy software was decommissioned, possibly spurring more nostalgic purchases
As well as being the second most in demand device, the Nokia 6310i from 2002 is also the highest grossing, as sales of them raked in £68,517 in just 12 months.
The second top grossing phone is the Nokia 2100, making £39,777 between May 2021 and May 2022, and the third is the BlackBerry Bold with £37,903.
This year, in January, BlackBerry’s legacy software was decommissioned, possibly spurring more nostalgic purchases.
James Brown, Director at Protect Your Bubble, said: ‘After 40 years of mobile phones, it’s interesting to see which old handsets Brits are willing to pay good money for.
‘If you have any old phones lying around, while the UK cost of living continues to rise – now could be the time to abandon nostalgia and get selling.
‘But remember, the better condition, the more profitable it will be. Take good care of it with a protective case or cover, clean it regularly and keep the software up to date.’
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