The Trump Organization - the family business of US President Donald Trump - chose to manufacture phones in the US - in an industry that is heavily dependent on international supply chains, is seen as reflecting the long-standing "domestic manufacturing first" stance of President Trump and his supporters.
According to the announcement, the Trump Mobile-branded mobile service and the $499 T1 smartphone will feature “purely American” features, such as domestically manufactured phones and a US-based customer service center.
However, according to SCMP , most supply chain analysts are skeptical of the Trump Organization's claim of "proudly designed and made in America".
Glamorous Appearances and Harsh Reality
According to the website, the T1 has a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 16MP punch-hole front camera design, a triple rear camera including a 50MP main camera, a 2MP depth sensor, and a 2MP macro lens. The device has a 5,000mAh battery, 256GB of internal memory, 12GB of RAM, an in-display fingerprint sensor, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and runs Android 15.
Plan 47, named after Mr. Trump as the 47th President of the United States, is the main plan of this telecommunications network.
According to the official website, the first Trump phone will be available for sale from September, with a subscription package of $47.45 /month. The unit responsible for operating the service is DTTM Operations, the organization that manages brands related to President Donald Trump.
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Analysts say most of the T1's components cannot be manufactured in the US. Photo: Trump Mobile. |
The T1’s specifications quickly raised doubts. According to Joy Guo, chief analyst at Omdia’s display group, there are currently no AMOLED display manufacturers outside of Asia, with global shipments split evenly between Korean and Chinese manufacturers.
Guo added that there are currently five AMOLED display manufacturers in China but all produce locally, while Korean factories are located domestically and in Vietnam.
A typical smartphone is made up of many components, from the case to the camera, screen, and battery, most of which must be imported from outside the United States, contradicting the Trump Organization’s claim that the phone is “made in America,” said Aaron West, a senior analyst at Omdia.
Meanwhile, Chiu Shih-Fang, a senior industry analyst at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, said cameras and printed circuit boards "are almost impossible to produce in the US".
“Considering the overall production capacity, supply chain maturity and assembly yield rate, achieving mass production in the US at this stage is really very difficult,” said Chiu Shih-Fang.
The undeniable truth
The U.S. can still make smartphones, but at a much higher price. Purism, a 10-year-old electronics maker in San Francisco, is the only notable U.S. smartphone maker, selling the Liberty Phone, which starts at a whopping $1,999 .
"If Trump's phone promises a $499 price tag and claims it's made domestically, the announcement seems like a classic 'fake' product," said Todd Weaver, CEO of Purism.
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The T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G shares many of its specs with Trump Mobile's T1. Photo: PCMag. |
According to West, all the specifications and design features of the T1 phone "indicate that they are using an ODM (original design and manufacturing) party to manufacture the phone," adding that the final step of adding the gold shell could be done in the US.
Just about an hour after its launch, many users on social media quickly discovered that the T1 appeared to be just a "refurbished" version of the T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G. Even the screen specifications and camera resolution were completely identical to T-Mobile's device.
The T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G is manufactured by Wingtech, which is owned by Chinese manufacturer Luxshare. Luxshare is also an iPhone manufacturer for Apple, with factories in China and India. T-Mobile's version is said to be manufactured in factories in China.
SCMP reports that another similar product is the Umidigi A15, which has three rear camera lenses arranged similarly to the T1. The A15, manufactured by Shenzhen-based Umidigi, is on sale for just $129.99 on AliExpress.
Similar to the T1, both Chinese phones come with a 5,000 mAh battery and 256 GB of storage. They also have a similar design with a punch-hole selfie camera in the top center of the screen. However, the A15 is much cheaper than the Trump phone and has a 64 MP main camera.
Despite Trump’s son Eric Trump’s repeated assertions that the T1 is “designed and manufactured in the USA,” that claim has been met with skepticism. The lack of information about the processor, display, and camera modules—components that must be imported—further reinforces the suspicions.
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Umidigi A15, with 3 rear camera lenses arranged like on T1. Photo: Handout. |
By comparison, even the industry’s biggest companies, like Apple, have struggled mightily to move their entire iPhone manufacturing supply chain to the U.S., a process that experts have estimated would require billions of dollars and years of preparation.
Trump Mobile, a complete newcomer to the industry, could hardly do the same thing for $499 and still make a profit.
In fact, in theory, assembling smartphones in the US is possible, but only on a very small scale and still requires importing important components such as cameras, RAM, storage, processors and screens.
Therefore, the possibility of the T1 being a smartphone made entirely in the US is low, unless there is some "miracle" in the supply chain.
Source: https://znews.vn/chuyen-gia-boc-tach-nguon-goc-chiec-smartphone-cua-trump-post1562002.html
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