Despite not being made of real gold, Apple's (News
- Alert) latest flagship smartphone – the gold iPhone 5S – just sold on eBay for a whopping $10,100. The 'lucky' winner resides in Connecticut.
The gold iPhone (News - Alert) 5S is a rare find right now as Apple scrambles to keep up with demand. The eBay auction had 51 bidders. About two hours before the auction’s end, bidding seemed to halt at $2,500, still a high price tag (News - Alert) for a phone that retails for $649. Just before the auction closed, an Apple fanatic laid down a whopping $10,000 bid. A final bidder who slapped down an extra $100 scooped the win.

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Clearly Apple was caught off guard by the popularity of the gold iPhone 5S. Reportedly the company asked suppliers to speed up production of parts. One possible reason that the gold iPhone 5S's is so popular could be the fact that the other colors, 'Space Grey' and 'Silver,' are inherently similar to the colors available for the iPhone 5. Gold is a brand new thing, and it lets bling lovers demonstrate that they're carrying the latest and greatest Apple phone with style.
According to Forbes, the extremely pricey gray market for gold iPhones is due to a scarcity that began the moment the new phones went on sale last week. When Apple introduced the iPhone 5 just over a year ago, it sold more than five million in the first three days after its launch.
Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, said, "This is our best iPhone launch yet?more than nine million new iPhones sold?a new record for first weekend sales. The demand for the new iPhones has been incredible, and while we’ve sold out of our initial supply of iPhone 5S, stores continue to receive new iPhone shipments regularly. We appreciate everyone’s patience and we are working hard to build enough new iPhones for everyone."
An Apple statement added "remaining iPhone 5S orders will shipped 'in the coming weeks.’”
According to Forbes, unless you ordered your gold iPhone in the first hour it became available Friday, it won’t be shipping until October.
Stores lacked real quantities of the popular hue from the moment sales started. The San Francisco Apple store had just 20 of them as thousands lined up for the release.
There is the option of buying a real gold iPhone or platinum or rose gold. A company called
Goldgenie offers iPhones and iPods in the range of fine metal finishes. A 24 karat gold plated iPhone 5S costs $2,850.
Edited by Alisen Downey
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