The Trump Organization announced its cellular brand called T1 earlier this month, heavily emphasising that the devices would be “made in the USA”, keeping in line with Trump administration policies. Now, just 10 days later, the company is silently erasing those claims.
This shift comes following analysts’ consensus that the phones are likely to be produced in China.
Shifting language on manufacturing
The official website for the T1 phone has removed all languages which indicated the phone would be manufactured in the US.
Now the website uses more ambiguous phrasing, stating the phone was “designed with American values in mind” and “brought to life right here in the USA,” Fortune reported.
Phone specifications downgraded, release delayed
Beyond the manufacturing claims, The Verge reported that the T1 phone’s specifications have also been scaled back since it was introduced.
The screen is now smaller, having been reduced from 6.78 inches to 6.25 inches, and all information about RAM has also been removed.
Furthermore, while the phones were initially promised to be released in September, the company has since adjusted that language to read “later this year”.
Despite these changes, the subscribers are still required to pay $100 up front for the device, the news agency said.
Industry scepticism
Scepticism about Trump Mobile’s claims emerged almost immediately upon its announcement.
Todd Weaver, CEO of Purism, the only company currently producing a US-made smartphone, told Fortune, “As someone who’s spent over a decade building a secure, privacy-first smartphone, focusing on manufacturing in the US, and I can say this with confidence: Producing a fully US-made phone isn’t something you spin up overnight.”
“If the Trump phone is promising a $499 price tag with domestic manufacturing, this announcement looks to be classic vaporware.”
Purism’s phone costs $650 to produce and retails for $2,000.
US President Donald Trump has been an avid proponent of reshoring US manufacturing, using tariffs as leverage to convince companies to build plants in the US and attacking Apple for manufacturing its iPhones in Asia, the news agency reported.
