In 2011 a Chinese man named only as Wang decided to sell his kidney on the black market for roughly £2,500 in order to get a new iPhone.

He was only 17 at the time he bought the iPhone, which will probably become obsolete in 2020 because it will no longer be compatible with the latest version of Apple’s iOS operating system.

According to Metro, Wang, who is now 25, met an organ seller online, before travelling across China to have the operation to remove his kidney.

Now he’s bedbound after suffering renal failure and so ill he’s unable to work, meaning he has to subsist on benefits.

Wang said: "At the time, I wanted to buy an iPad 2, but I didn’t have any money. ‘When I was on the internet, I had a kidney agent send a message, saying that selling a kidney can give me 20,000 yuan." The operation is understood to have been performed by two surgeons, a nurse and an assistant, who flogged the kidney for a total price of roughly £25,000.

Wang bought himself an iPhone 4 and an iPad 2 with the dosh, but his mum called the cops after finding out what had happened.

Nine people were jailed for their part in the scandal in 2012. Judges awarded Wang and his family £169,000 (1.47 million yuan) in compensation.