- iFixit has done a teardown of the T1 by Trump Mobile
- They’ve discovered that it’s almost identical to the HTC U24 Pro from 2024
- The main differences are minor cosmetic changes, along with a slightly larger battery
One of the key selling points of the Trump Phone — or the T1 by Trump Mobile, to give it its official name — is its “American values”, with the official store page mentioning that phrase along with “American innovation”, “American-proud design”, and calling it a “proudly American” product. But you probably won’t be surprised to learn that there’s seemingly little of that American-ness in the phone itself.
You see, iFixit has finally got hold of a T1 handset and conducted a teardown, learning in the process that the phone is almost identical to the HTC U24 Pro — a 2024 handset from a Taiwanese brand that was seemingly produced in China.
There are a few differences here, but they’re mostly cosmetic, with the Trump Phone, of course, having that gold-colored finish, along with a slightly different camera block and speaker grille design.
Beyond that, the Trump Phone also has a slightly larger 5,000mAh battery — up from 4,600mAh in the HTC U24 Pro — but less powerful 30W charging, down from 60W in HTC’s phone.
But make no mistake — these are essentially the same handsets, with most of the components, specs, and internal layouts being identical.
More Asian than American
So, claims that the Trump T1 Phone contains any real American values, let alone that it could be “proudly American,” are hard to take seriously.
iFixit notes that markings on the phone say it’s “assembled in the USA”, which is notably different from being “made in America” — the latter of which has specific requirements from the FCC, which the Trump Phone seemingly doesn’t meet.
Supposedly, the device is being assembled from around 10 components by a team in Florida, but iFixit speculates that the chassis and screen are imported as a pre-assembled unit (likely from the same factory in China as made the HTC U24 Pro), with Trump Mobile’s team probably just adding things like the battery and camera module — all of which will likely also have been built elsewhere, but just perhaps not put into the phone until they reached US shores.
So, if you want a phone that’s more than superficially American, this isn’t the handset for you.
That said, the Trump T1 does at least have a similar price to the HTC U24 Pro, so it’s arguably not the total rip-off you might have expected it to be. iFixit jokes that, “against all expectations, the T1 is actually well priced when compared to the equivalently specced U24 Pro, and the only things you give up are the 60W fast charging and your dignity.” We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.
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