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?

Forgot to say he's also 16.

Your daughter sounds fantastic ☺️

She really doesn't. She sounds as nasty as the iPhone users judging people for having a Samsung. It's all nasty behaviour and certainly not 'fantastic'.

My 18 year old and my 16 year old have samsungs but they don't give a shit about labels or brands. They like the camera. They also pay for their phones so appreciate how much they cost

My five adult children aged 21-33, 4 have Samsungs and 1 has an iPhone. Two of them work in IT and would never have iPhones.

I am late fifties and have an iPhone and do see more older people with them, and my two in IT think Apple products are easier to use for people my age.

I think let DS have whatever phone he wants, but stick to your budget, maybe he needs to get a Saturday job or do some chores for you if there is a cost difference.

I think it's unusual, but if he doesn't want one, that's fine. My kids have iPhones but neither have ever been obsessed like some kids you read about on here. Sometimes in a week of school hols, my daughters phone stays in her blazer pocket, not looked at. It's only when I take it out to wash the blazer than she'll look at it. 🤣

Ds is 17yo. He asked for a new phone for his birthday. He wanted a Samsung specifically.
He's very pleased with it.

Meh, I disagree. There aren’t many kids not invested in technology out there, and a lot of adults these days too. I love tech myself but I don’t see anything wrong with someone who doesn’t buy into the hype 🤷‍♀️

Both my teens (including a 16 yr old) have iPhones as do all their friends.

Solivigant, he never goes anywhere without us! We live rurally and he does his socialising online. If he was wandering into a major city alone, I agree a phone would be really useful.
Saying that though, I grew up without a phone, not even a landline and I survived!

Meh, I disagree. There aren’t many kids not invested in technology out there, and a lot of adults these days too. I love tech myself but I don’t see anything wrong with someone who doesn’t buy into the hype

Disagree all you like. Saying horrible things about someone because of the phone they have isn't fantastic, it's nasty.

My teens both have an iPhone, their dad buys it, no way I’d buy them both a brand new iPhone. I’m sure plenty of kids have Samsung. Dear oh dear if they have to have a cheaper phone, I’d be telling them when they can afford it they can buy an iPhone themselves. Kids these days think nothing of asking for a brand new phone (my kids didn’t ask for theirs I should add, was a gift by a guilty father who spends too much time working overseas)

iPhones are so a few years ago..my teenage niece and nephew have Samsungs. I honestly don't know anyone has an iPhone...they still being made?

I have 2 dc - one won’t have anything other than an iPhone despite me continually trying to persuade them that they are paying for a name and get far more features for their money with Android and the other who has always been happy to have an Android and typically has a more features on their phone than their sibling imo.

So our stance has always been, this is your budget for a phone from us (which is not iPhone money) and if you want an iPhone, you save up the difference and pay towards it which the one that is bothered has always done for the 5 years she has had a phone.

Hope that helps!

Never out and about on bikes? I guess I would get the friends numbers in that situation though. I was out and about from about 10 but there were a lot more working pay phones about if I had needed to call home.

My 16yo (and 18yo) and all their friends would agree with him

For us it's half half, half have iPhones and half have android although not really Samsung but gamer phones such as black shark or razer etc. I hate apple.

16 almost 17yo and they all have iPhones. Samsung would be seen as a punishment 😂

Edited to add that we are an Apple family, even our work phones are Apple and we find it really helpful to have ‘find my’ and we share the Apple family plan for data, music etc

Can you buy a used iPhone on eBay? That’s what we do.

I think each school is different. At ours IPhones are in and dd was absolutely desperate for one when it was time to renew contracts. Ds agreed that nearly everyone has an iPhone, but likes to be different so still went for a Samsung (so long as its new enough it isn't social suicide). However I think any brand other than apple or Samsung would see them be ridiculed.

I don't see how DS can b unreasonable to want whatever refurbished phone he wants. Whatever we all say, that is his preference.

Depends who's paying and if it's over budget. I'd only pay the value of a basic smartphone that will last three years, I'd expect a 16 year old to pay the difference if they want something more expensive than what's actually required.

Samsung - i tried it for two years couldn't wait to get back to an iPhone. My teens wouldn't consider anything else other than iPhones.

Don't most of the kids have 2 phones so they can hand the 'dummy' phone in?

Who can afford that?

Try this experiment on them - you can have:

• an iPhone, or
• a Samsung and a new <insert object of desire> for roughly the same overall cost

See which one they go for...