By Euronews with AP
Published on
US President Donald Trump’s new gold smartphone has scrapped messaging that it is made in America, according to reports.
Here is everything we know about the Trump phone.
Earlier this month, the President launched Trump Mobile, a wireless carrier and the T1 Phone 8002, which the Trump Organisation advertised at first as being “made in the USA”.
The website now says the $499 (€426) smartphone has an “American-proud design” with “American hands behind every device”.
What do we know about the phone?
The Verge also reported that the specifications of the phone have changed, from a 6.78-inch AMOLED screen to a smaller one of 6.25 inches. The phone now should have 256 gigabytes of storage, whereas the old advertising had it at 12 gigabytes of RAM.
The phone will also have an in-screen fingerprint sensor and artificial intelligence face unlock, three rear cameras with up to 50 megapixels and one front camera.
The phone is available for pre-order with a deposit of $100 (€85.37) and will be connected to the Trump Mobile network. The website said the phone was supposed to be available by September but the site now says it will be ready “later this year”.
Trump’s sons Eric and Don Jr. announced earlier this month that they would offer mobile phone plans for $47.45 (€40.51) a month under the mobile network, a reference to their father’s status as the 45th and 47th president. The call centre, they said, will be in the US, too.
A spokesperson for Trump told CNBC that the phones would still be made in the US and that any speculation otherwise is inaccurate.
Euronews Next has also followed up with Trump’s team but didn’t receive an immediate reply.
However, some experts have questioned if the phone is too good to be true, as the $499 (€426) phone is too cheap for the specs it offers and some parts of the phone are not made in the US.
The smartphone is the product of the recently founded mobile phone network Trump Mobile, which is operated by the Trump Organization.
The Trump family has flown the American flag before with Trump-branded products of suspicious origin, including its “God Bless the USA” Bibles, which an Associated Press investigation last year showed were printed in China.
In May, President Trump threatened smartphone supplier Apple and other US-based companies with a hefty 25 per cent tariff if they manufactured their phones anywhere outside the US.
In response, Apple is reportedly expanding its iPhone supply chain through a $1.5 billion (€1.28 billion) investment for a component plant outside of Chennai, India.
