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Ah, the Trump phone. Remember that? Since it was announced a few weeks ago, a lot has happened elsewhere, so you can be forgiven if you forgot about it. But there’s been a fairly significant update.
Trump Mobile, the newly launched wireless carrier affiliated with the Trump Organisation, has quietly removed its “Made in the USA” claims for the T1 smartphone from its website. When it was announced, people immediately questioned the claim that all parts would be sourced from America.
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Now, it seems there’s been a retraction:
- Marketing reworded: Prominent “Made in the USA” banners have been replaced with vague slogans like “Premium Performance. Proudly American,” “designed with American values in mind,” and “American hands behind every device.” There is no explicit statement that the phone is manufactured or assembled in the United States.
- Specs downgraded: The device’s screen size has been reduced from 6.78 inches to 6.25 inches. Additionally, details such as the previously advertised 12 GB of RAM have been removed from the product listing.
- Delayed launch: The expected shipping window has shifted from a September release to a more ambiguous “later this year,” further clouding its timeline.
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The headline “Made in the USA” carries strict regulatory weight. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), such labelling requires nearly all components, and the manufacturing process, to be U.S.-based. In the current global smartphone supply chain, that is virtually impossible.
The changes in language appear to align the marketing with this standard, sidestepping specific production claims.
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Despite the rephrasing, Trump Mobile insists in a statement that the T1 is “proudly being made in America”. However, analysts remain sceptical, noting the device appears identical to the Chinese-made Revvl 7 Pro 5G, a budget phone retasked with a gold shell for the Trump brand.
Experts widely regard fully manufacturing a smartphone in the U.S. at a $499 price point as highly unlikely. Components like chips, screens, and cameras are predominantly sourced from Asia, and domestic assembly infrastructure remains limited.
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Further Info
The T1 Phone is being sold as a mid-range Android device priced at $499 and linked to a Trump-branded MVNO plan costing $47.45 per month. Its launch aligns with Donald Trump’s broader political push for U.S.-based tech manufacturing; he has even threatened tariffs on companies that assemble devices overseas.
Still, the lack of infrastructure and viable pricing means large-scale domestic smartphone production likely remains a long way off if a possibility at all.
