According to a report that surfaced in the Indian press today, the gift is to be offered as soon as the new iPhone is available locally and the marriage cannot take place until then, meaning there could be a bit of a wait for the couple given that iPhone 6 currently only has a release date in USA, France, Canada, Germany, Singapore, the UK, Australia and Japan (19 September).

Dowries are traditional in the Arab world and are intended to be simple gifts, though some families insist on demanding exorbitant sums of money or expensive presents.

Saud Ahmad, a Bahraini office clerk, told Gulf News "We have heard of quite a few things, but an iPhone 6 that has not even hit the markets here is a bit bizarre. We need to promote a culture where marriage should not be used by anyone to get gifts or make profits in any way. If I had been the groom, I would have confronted the brother."

The report noted that "The demand for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is high, as evidenced by a plane that is reportedly heading to Saudi Arabia filled with 200,000 iPhones," hinting that they were directly gained from an iPhone plant in China. Although that's a little hard to believe, I guess big money talks.

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Note: Dowry is practiced differently under Islamic Sharia law (see dowry, under Morocco).