BTW – our two asked for them for their 6th birthdays. They were told in no uncertain terms that they would not be getting such expensive things and that when they are older they could earn the money to buy their own.
Same here. We have a family iPad (competition prize!), and old (given to us) laptop and my work laptop.
The kids when the go to secondary get a secondhand, middling Android phone. If they want a nice one, save up.
If they need to save more, wait until you are 13 for a paper round, or go clean my car/pull weeds/clean the bathroom/cook a meal and you get an extra 50p.
My eldest two (12 and 13) have now both saved and bought MotoG phones themselves. They look after them so carefully, and seeing as we buy one top up a month, are also careful with texts and useage.
We and the kids are not perfect, far from it, but I am really keen our kids learn that if they want something in life, they better work hard for it.
To the OP – if he smashed it, I wouldn’t replace it, AND I would have another punishment (pay for repair out of his pocket money?).