In a highly competitive environment everyone wants to show their blue upper-middleclass bubble.
I think it's sad that something kids can't control becomes such a social anxiety inducing thing forcing parents into buying something they might not be able to afford.
Luckily where I'm from we don't use the "sms app" to communicate
A huge factor in this: 87% of US teenagers have iPhones [1] and that's not going to change anytime soon.
[1]: https://www.barrons.com/articles/apple-stock-teens-iphone-e5...