Scotty Allen, a software engineer formerly employed in Silicon Valley, developed his own iPhone from scratch using only spare parts bought from China.

Allen, who lives part-time in Shenzhen, China, chose to make an iPhone 6S out of a spirit of adventure. He bought all of the necessary parts from local vendors in Huaqianbgai, Shenzhen, which is known as a major electronics manufacturing hub.

A self-constructed iPhone could cost around $300, Allen explained, "I spent well over $1,000, but a lot of that was parts and tools I didn't end up needing. I'd say it's probably around $300 worth of parts in the actual phone." The finished iPhone 6s is said to be fully functional.

The most difficult part, Allen said, was to solder his own logic board and he ended up buying a used one. Otherwise, the construction was little different from building one's own desktop computer, except that everything was much smaller.

In Turkey, prices for an iPhone 6S start from 3,199 Turkish Lira (about $870). While Apple does not officially reveal the material costs of an iPhone 6S, according to an estimate from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, it could amount to $234.