Two men in China’s eastern Jiangsu Province tried to sell their kidney in order to buy the recently launched iPhone 6S, China Daily reported on Tuesday. Unable to afford the phone, one of the men, identified as Wu, went with a friend's suggestion to sell a kidney each, to raise the required amount.
The two allegedly found an illegal agent on the Internet who asked them to take medical examinations at a hospital in Nanjing. On September 12, they reached the hospital, but the agent apparently failed to show up. That led them to reconsider their plan and abandon the idea. However, Huang did not relent, which prompted Wu to call the police. Huang then ran away and has been out of touch ever since.
China is a maturing smartphone market and Apple enjoys a dominant market position. It is among the 12 countries where the iPhone 6S is will be initially available. The fact that it is now the biggest iPhone market for Apple, surpassing the US, speaks volumes about its popularity. While the popularity of iPhones is on the wane globally, China has bucked the trend. Analysts have predicted that a bulk of the total first weekend sales will be contributed by China. Apple is expecting to break its first weekend record of selling 10 million units of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The latest iPhones feature upgraded camera sensors, 3D Force Touch and 2GB of RAM. The iPhone 6S and the 6S Plus go on sale on September 25.
Although China’s smartphone market is filled with popular homegrown brands like Xiaomi, ZTE, Lenovo, and Meizu, among others, customers are moving towards more premium offerings from either Samsung or Apple. So, it’s little wonder that Chinese consumers would be going to great lengths to lay their hands on the latest iPhone. Even if that means having to actually sell their kidneys!