The new “All-American” smartphone being sold by President Donald Trump’s family is reportedly manufactured in China.
The just-launched Trump Mobile is selling a gold iPhone lookalike for $499, despite the device’s base model—albeit without the gilded trim or Trump branding—being available on Amazon for just $169, according to Apple Insider.
The new phone, named “T1,” was introduced by the president’s sons with a promise that it would be manufactured in the United States. However, Eric Trump quickly had to temper expectations that the first Trump phones would be produced stateside.
“Eventually, all the phones can be built in the United States of America,” the president’s second-born son told right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro. “We have to bring manufacturing back to America. So, our ethos is, ‘Built for America by Americans. Do it cheaper. Do it better.’”
That confirmed cynicism that Trump Mobile could manufacture a smartphone in the U.S. by August, which is the shipping date promised to those who preordered the device. No major smartphone is manufactured in America—a point that recently came up as Trump threatened to impose steep tariffs on tech companies that manufacture products in Asia, such as Apple.
“The T1 phone may be modded in the USA,” Apple Insider wrote. “It certainly wasn’t designed or assembled in the U.S.”
The Trump Organization, which is owned by the president but run by his eldest sons, did not respond to a request for information about where initial T1 phones are being produced.
MAGA fans purchasing the T1 may not realize they are buying a product that was manufactured abroad. The Trump Organization’s press release about the device claimed that it is “designed and built in the United States,” and its website boasts that the company operates on “All-American Performance.”
The Trump Organization told The Wall Street Journal that “manufacturing for the new phone will be in Alabama, California, and Florida.” Just not yet, apparently.
“You can build these phones in the United States,” Donald Trump Jr. told podcaster Benny Johnson on Monday morning. “Eventually, all the phones can be built in the United States of America. We have to bring manufacturing back here.”
The Journal was among those skeptical that Trump Media could quickly pump out a U.S.-made smartphone.
“It’s possible—even plausible—that these phones would initially come from China because, at that price point, only Chinese makers like Xiaomi and Oppo have hardware to match,” the paper wrote.
Other reports suggest Trump Media botched its rollout. 404 Media reported that an attempt to preorder the device resulted in their reporter’s card being undercharged on the $100 deposit. Next, the screen displayed an error message before an address for the product’s eventual shipping could be given.
“The website failed, went to an error page, and then charged my credit card the wrong amount of $64.70,” 404 Media wrote. “I received a confirmation email saying I’ll receive a confirmation when my order has been shipped, but I haven’t provided a shipping address or paid the full $499 price tag. It is the worst experience I’ve ever faced buying a consumer electronic product, and I have no idea whether or how I’ll receive the phone.”
The Trump Media website, which froze up Monday during multiple visits by the Daily Beast, claims that the T1 will feature a 6.8-inch display, making it slightly larger than the largest Apple iPhone to date. It also boasts a bright AMOLED screen, a 120Hz refresh rate, and battery capacity that surpasses that of any iPhone. Apple, which plans on rolling out its iPhone 17 lineup in September, a month after the T1 is slated to be shipped to customers, did not respond to a request for comment.
Tinglong Dai, a professor of operations management and business analytics at Johns Hopkins University, told the Journal that it would likely take five years to build the infrastructure needed to manufacture such a product in America.
“There’s absolutely no way you could make the screen, get that memory, camera, battery, everything” in America right now, he said.
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