Coolest retro cellphones in South Africa
Avid tech collectors will find a goldmine of retro cellphones and smartphones from yesteryear available to buy secondhand online in South Africa.
One particularly remarkable retro smartphone that made headlines in the past few years was an original sealed iPhone, which sold on auction for $190,373 in July 2023 — around R3.5 million at the time.
That was roughly 380 times the groundbreaking smartphone’s original price of $499 when it was released, an impressive payoff for the seller who kept it unopened from 2007.
MyBroadband scoured online stores and secondhand marketplaces, including Bob Shop and Facebook Marketplace, and found plenty of nostalgia-inducing cellular phones for sale in South Africa.
Unfortunately, we did not find any sealed iPhones that could be worth a fortune in our search.
The oldest iPhone we found selling locally was 2010’s iPhone 4 and none of the units we came across were sealed.
However, it was advertised as being in working condition, and at just R450, it might be a steal for someone willing to live without the latest apps or 4G connectivity.
The oldest noteworthy cellphones across our entire search were the Ericsson GH198 and GH388, which date back to the early and mid-1990s, respectively.
The vast majority of the other noteworthy models were from Nokia, which dominated South Africa’s phone market in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Unfortunately, we realised that one of the best places with the widest range of older phones is eBay’s UK-based classifieds.
We could not recommend buying from that store without a package forwarding service, as eBay sometimes uses the highly unreliable South African Post Office (SAPO) for local deliveries.
It is also worth noting that many of the phones we added to our list are likely to be challenging to use due to their lack of features and older hardware.
Therefore, if you intend to buy a working phone with a retro design, it is worth considering something like the Nokia 3210 or 3310 4G or one of the Motorola Razr foldables rather than an actual old device.
Below are some of the standout classic cell phones and smartphone models we found selling online in South Africa.
The images used are from the actual listings to provide an indication of their condition.
Ericsson GH198 (1993) and GH388 (1995) — R1,000 (Facebook Marketplace)
The GH198 was Ericsson’s fifth GSM 900 compatible phone, among the world’s first to support SMS messages.
Ericsson GF768 (1997) — Negotiable price (Facebook Marketplace)
A flip phone known for its bright colours and a “Note System” feature that allowed users to make their own ringtones.
Nokia 5110 (1998) — R850 (Facebook Marketplace)
The first phone on which users could play the hit mobile game Snake.
Nokia 6310 (2001) — R650 (Facebook Marketplace)
First Nokia cell phone with Bluetooth, integrated as car phone in Mercedes-Benz S-class models from 1998 to 2006.
Nokia 7210 (2002) — R600 (Facebook Marketplace)
The first mass-market phone with a colour screen and polyphonic ringtones.
Nokia E52 (2009) — R600 (Bob Shop)
The Symbian S60-powered smartphone was particularly remarkable for its 27-day battery life, much better than phones in the same class at its release.
Nokia E75 (2009) — R1,200 (Facebook Marketplace)
The E75 not only had a side-sliding QWERTY keyboard for business users and big texters but also featured an optional DVB-H TV signal receiver.
Blackberry Curve 8520 (2009) — R350 (Facebook Marketplace)
Research in Motion’s Blackberry Curve 8520 was a smash hit in South Africa due to its affordable price and support for BlackBerry Internet Service and Blackberry Messenger.
Apple iPhone 4 (2010) — R450 (Bob Shop)
The iPhone 4 introduced the stainless steel frame that doubled as an antenna, something which would become standard on subsequent Apple smartphone releases. It was also the company’s first model with a high pixel density “Retina” display.
Apple iPhone 4S (2011) — R599 (Bob Shop)
The iPhone 4S was Apple’s first to feature its virtual assistant Siri. Other upgrades included an 8MP camera with 1080p video recording and the introduction of the iCloud and iMessage apps.