Chinese Kid, Now 24, Disabled for Life After Selling Kidney for an iPhone 4

Whether you just want to pay retail price and be on your way, or you’re hoping to get lucky and win one of iDrop’s exclusive product giveaways — there’s no denying the allure and sheer desire among consumers for Apple’s signature products. Basically, everyone wants in, whether they can afford it or not.

Of course, there are many other ways for people to get their hands on the latest Apple products — including high-stakes burglary (not recommended). But one of the most extreme efforts ever documented by the Apple news community concerns a young Chinese man named Xiao Wang, and his quest to obtain an iPhone 4, back in 2011.

According to a Chinese media (Oriental Daily) report published this week, Wang, now 24-years-old, was just 17 when he decided to sell one of his kidneys for cash to buy iPhone 4, which was still hot off the assembly line at the time.

While it’s almost archaic by today’s standards, the handset was reportedly so desired among his teenage peers, that it was described as a “must-have” item in his school — and whoever owned one was considered more “atas” than the other students, according to the report. 

Wang — who also wanted an iPhone 4, badly enough, but realized that his family’s financial situation prevented it — then started looking into ways of scoring some extra cash to get one, when he was reportedly informed that he only needed one kidney to survive.

“One kidney is enough for me, why do I need the other one? Why don’t I just sell it?” Wang reconciled.

While scouring for opportunities to sell his flesh and blood, Wang came upon an illegal “underground hospital” where, upon being extracted, his Kidney fetched an estimated 22,000 Yuan (~$3,200) — well more than enough to buy himself an iPhone 4.

Wang was told by a hospital arbitrator that he’d “lead a normal life again” after a week of recovery — or so they said.

“Unfortunately, the operating environment wasn’t sanitized properly, which led to an infection on his wound,” according to the report.

“Worse still, his parents were kept in the dark about this major operation and only found out when the teen became terribly sick from the infection.”

Sadly, by the time young Xiao sought proper treatment at a reputable hospital, the function of his single kidney had deteriorated to such an extent that he’s not only spent most of his time over the past seven years in bed, but his family was soon thereafter “plunged” into a financial crisis due to the expenses of Xiao’s dialysis treatments.

And still, nothing will ever change young Xiao’s health for the better as dialysis is, unfortunately, a life-long and ultimately fatal ordeal for most of its victims.

Both the arbitrator and the illegal hospital who performed his procedure were brought to justice, and the Wang family received “sufficient” monetary compensation.