He sold his kidney for an iPhone 4 eight years ago. Bad idea.

From Newsweek’s Man who sold Kidney for an iPhone bedridden after organ failure:

Chinese man who sold his kidney for an iPhone and iPad as a teenager now faces a life with renal disease after his remaining kidney failed.

Wang Shangkun made headlines in China at the age of 17 after it emerged he had sold a kidney on the black market, following a back-alley procedure, to get his hands on the latest Apple gadgets.

Perhaps tempting fate, at the time, Shangkun questioned “Why do I need a second kidney?” Now, eight years on, at the age of 25 his remaining organ has failed due to complications most likely related to his initial surgery.

Because of the kidney failure, Shangkun now spends days in bed at a time and is forced to rely on regular dialysis to stay alive, the Daily Mirror reported.

My take: Remember 2011, when China went crazy for iPhones, mobbing stores and selling organs? Seems so long ago,

UPDATE: This is a perfect London tabloid story, which is where Newsweek found it. The same story, with a slightly different hero’s name, made the rounds of the Chinese tabloids three weeks earlier, which is where World of Buzz found it, gory photos and all.