Ask your 16 year old please if he is BU

[HerderofDragons]

16 year old DS needs a new (to him it will be a refurbished decent second hand) phone. This apparantly has to be a iphone as a Samsung is, I quote, "social suicide" and that "just about every 16 year old in the UK would agree".

I am deliberately leaving out vital details like who is paying (though it is fair to say neither he nor I are rolling in cash) to get a pure opinion poll on his statement please. Obviously he clearly is being VU but if you have a 16 year can you ask them if they think he is BU please?
Is he being unreasonable?

My 16 year old has an android phone, not a Samsung though.

DD 18 friends are split between android and iPhone.

Dd12 currently has an android, out off all 3 she is the only one who would maybe try to insist on an iPhone.

We are an android house though, so easier to stay on one OS. Apart from the pile of rubbish that is my work phone.

Mine are 16, 15, 13 and all iPhones.

Kids I work with are by a long way mainly iPhone. I think I've seen 2 samsung that I can recall but I'm not exactly keeping a tally either.

Whilst I love my Samsung, I have to agree with the above too. I don't care so much now, but still remember spending my saturday job first wage on the "right" sweatshirt and feeling so good about it.

It sounds very immature for 16 to care so much about what brand of phone you have.

Mine had an iPhone but is now "over it" and has switched to a Samsung which is "far superior".

None of my three slightly older children have ever had iPhones - 2 Samsungs and one other android

This made me laugh - my 2 teens have Galaxy S phones and I (age 56) have an A 😂

Both teen dc's have iPhones apparently having an android is also social suicide at their school

My dd (16) agrees with your dc

My 16yo ds has a Samsung, isn't interested in iPhones and cba to upgrade his phone, which he's had for years!

No 16 year old in my house, but depends on who is paying!

There's definitely been pressure on the kids (and friends with dc there agree) throughout the school on having the right coat/shoes/phones.
This is a Merseyside comprehensive

Out of interest everyone who's said their teens don't care/aren't bothered are they privately educated? Or in wealthy areas?

I have a theory that in those kind of places phone type matters less.

Mine all have iphones but only one actually “needs” an iphone. We chose them because I have a personal iPhone and a work iPhone (it’s helpful to be compatible). It means I understand how to use them. Face ID isn’t helpful for identical twins though!

DS and I both have As. Same model as it happens (long and irrelevant story... ) and if he wants an S then he can blinking well get a Saturday job and get saving...

He really will need an iPhone if you can, Samsung a definite no

You'll no doubt get some on here that would claim that smart phones are the devil and DS should have a Nokia 3310 instead but surely it depends on his peer group and the norm for him? What others do all around the world is surely irrelevant.

No, low income kids at grammar and utc college.

My ds15 (very nearly 16) said "who cares though? It's a phone, end of. God, how sad!" <sorry OP's ds!>

FWIW he has an iPhone that's about 4yrs old and isn't interested in upgrading because "it's not broke soooo...?"

I do love that about most teens these days, they're less interested in status items than when my generation was growing up. I think a lot of really good work has been done in schools / on social media and tv etc about environmental and landfill issues. Seems like the make do and mend era might be on the return.

DS is 15 and had an I phone but wants one of those Samsung flip phones 😂. We’re an Apple family though (thanks to DH, I don’t care!) so iPhone it is.

Mine prefers android. iPhone is an ‘old person phone’ because they’re easier to use.

I’ve just started working in a secondary school and I must say I haven’t seen the sort of thing that went on when I was at school. They don’t seem to care what other people, have, do or wear.

I'm Wirral. Not a private school either. My ds feels zero pressure whatsoever.

My 16yo has a Samsung but has now decided, as a result of her current retro phase, that she wants an "old fashioned phone" and directed me to a pink Motorola Razer.

Thank you, daughter, for making me feel older than time.

21/17/12 year olds all have iPhones. None would care if they weren’t iPhones, they’re just what have been shuffled down the family as we’ve done upgrades. As long as they run Spotify and YouTube they’re happy enough.

We are a Nokia household, DD wouldn't be seen with either an iPhone or Samsung but fitting in to social norms isn't her thing.

Nokia smartphones are affordable outright, well made, offer fixit yourself kits for common smart phone issues like cracked screen and as sustainable as a phone can be, great camera and come in great colours.

I suspect that wouldn't fly with your DS though