Trump Mobile Removes ‘Made in the USA’ Claim for $499 T1 Smartphone
The Trump Organization has removed a claim that its newly announced T1 smartphone would be made in America, following doubts about whether the $499 gold device could be manufactured in the U.S. at that price.
This month, the Trump family launched a new cellular company, Trump Mobile, and introduced its first smartphone, the T1, a gold-colored device priced at $499. The phone features a flashy gold design with a large American flag on the back. According to the company, the T1 allegedly features a 6.8-inch AMOLED screen with a punch hole for its front-facing camera as well as a triple camera array.
At launch, a banner on the company’s website read: “Our MADE IN THE USA ‘T1 Phone’ is available for pre-order now.”
However, according to a report by The Verge, all mentions of where the phone is made have since been removed from the site. As of Wednesday, the T1’s webpage now says the phone has an “American-Proud Design” and is “brought to life right here in the USA.”
The Verge reports the new tagline for the T1 is: “Premium Performance. Proudly American.” The website also states the device is “designed with American values in mind” and there are “American hands behind every device.” Yet it remains unclear whether Trump’s phone is actually manufactured in the United States.
Chris Walker, a Trump Mobile spokesperson, dismissed The Verge’s report, telling USA Today in a statement: “T1 phones are proudly being made in America. Speculation to the contrary is simply inaccurate.”
The news follows skepticism from industry experts about the Trump Organization’s claim that its gold-colored T1 Phone — scheduled to ship in August and available to preorder now with a $100 down payment — could be entirely manufactured in the United States.
When the T1 was first announced, experts told CNBC that the device would most likely be produced in China by a local third-party company. The U.S. currently lacks the advanced supply chain needed to manufacture smartphones, especially within the timeline set for an August release. Even if domestic production were possible, many of the phone’s components would still need to be sourced from overseas.
The news also comes after President Trump threatened Apple with a tariff of “at least 25%” if iPhones sold in the U.S. are not manufactured domestically.
