Well first of all, 12 isn't that young. He could understand it if he had to. Second, its kind of a great teaching opportunity. Why does he care what other kids

Well first of all, 12 isn't that young. He could understand it if he had to. Second, its kind of a great teaching opportunity. Why does he care what other kids think? Get him to try putting into words exactly what he thinks the iphone can do better. There's no time better than now to not get sucked into the consumerist bullshit signaling game of owning things for others to care about. It may hurt now, but not being a slave to marketing is a valuable lesson to impart.