The iPhone 17 may be flying off the shelves in 2025, but one unforgettable story from nearly a decade ago is making the rounds again to prove just how far some people will go for Apple’s coveted devices.
Back in 2016, a young woman from Shenzhen, China — dubbed “Xiaoli” by the media — reportedly convinced each of her 20 boyfriends to buy her the newly launched iPhone 7. Once she had all 20 phones in hand, she sold them to mobile recycling company Hui Shou Bao, earning herself 120,000 Chinese yuan (roughly Rs 14 lakh at the time). Instead of splurging on luxury, she used the money for the down payment on a new house.
The jaw-dropping story first came to light on the blogging forum Tian Ya Yi Du, where a writer calling themselves Proud Qiaoba said that Xiaoli was their colleague. According to the post, Xiaoli came from a modest background. Her father was a migrant worker and her mother was a housewife. As the eldest daughter, she felt pressure to provide for her ageing parents.
When she showed her friends her new house, they were shocked. She explained how she had managed the down payment, her “method” quickly became office gossip, then a national talking point. The hashtag “20 mobiles for a house” became the number one trend on Chinese social media platform Weibo. It was used more than 13 million times.
Reactions ranged from admiration to disbelief. One person wrote, “I can’t even find one boyfriend. She can actually find 20 boyfriends at the same time and even get them to buy her an iPhone 7. Just want to ask her to teach me such skills.” Others were less impressed, calling her “shameless”.
Many people speculated that the story might be a marketing stunt by Hui Shou Bao. When BBC contacted the company, they confirmed they had indeed purchased 20 iPhones from one woman, paying 6,000 yuan each. However, Xiaoli declined interviews, citing unwanted media attention.