Import substitution, the American way. Trump's team unveils a smartphone

The Trump Organization, which manages the assets of US President Donald Trump, has launched the T1 Phone smartphone, which is "proudly designed and made in the USA".

The press release describes the T1 Phone as "a stylish gold phone built for high performance". The disclosed features include a 6.8-inch AMOLED display with support for 120 Hz, 12 GB RAM, 256 GB storage, a 5000 mAh battery, Android 15 operating system, USB-C, audio jack, an under-screen fingerprint scanner. And a "serious" set of cameras: the main camera (50 MP), a pair of additional sensors (2 MP) and a front camera (16 MP).

The processor model is not disclosed, but judging by the photos, we are talking about a smartphone worth $200-300.

On the Trump Mobile website, the price of this novelty is $499. Sales will start in August. So far, only pre-orders are possible, for which $100 must be paid.

404 Media reporter Joseph Cox tried to apply for the device. His credit card was charged the wrong amount: only $64. Then an email was received saying that he would receive a confirmation when the order was shipped. The problem is that Cox does not provide a delivery address anywhere.

In addition, the images of the smartphone published on the Trump Phone website look suspicious. The "pupil" of the rear camera seems to be drawn on, the screen is cut crookedly in, and the physical buttons are only shown on the front rendering.

Eric Trump, the president's son, admitted that the first batch of T1 vaccines will be produced outside the United States (most likely in China). In addition, journalists have discovered what gadget the "American" T1 is based on: it is the Wingtech REVVL 7 Pro 5G smartphone, which is manufactured in the Chinese factory of Luxshare Precision. This model is slightly different from the T1 Phone, but as the source explained, ODMs can provide multiple design variants for one device.

It all looks ironic: the phone, hailed as the pride of American engineering, is actually assembled in China - the country with which Donald Trump is waging a trade war and threatening to impose safeguard duties on electronics imports. Another fun fact: Trump recently berated Apple CEO Tim Cook for his reluctance to move iPhone production to the U.S.

According to Jeff Fieldhack, research director at Counterpoint Research, the U.S. does not have the manufacturing capacity to produce a smartphone from scratch. You would have to import many key components anyway, from displays to processors. Even assembling within the U.S. would be expensive. The Purism Liberty Phone, advertised as made in the U.S., costs $2,000 and has very modest specs.