Trump Phone Revealed as ‘Gold-Painted HTC U24 Pro’ in iFixit Teardown – With Few Signs of Built-In ‘American Values’

iFixit has done a teardown of the T1 by Trump Mobile
They have discovered that it is 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 main selling points for the Trump Phone – or T1 from Trump Mobile, to give it its official name – is its “American values”, with the official store page mentioning this 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 seems to be a bit of that American character in the phone itself.

You see, iFixit finally got its hands on a T1 handset and did 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 apparently made in China.

There are a few differences here, but they’re mostly cosmetic, with the Trump Phone of course having the gold finish along with a slightly different camera block and speaker grille design.

More Asian than American

So claims that the Trump T1 Phone contains genuine 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 significantly different from being “made in America” — the latter of which has specific FCC requirements that the Trump phone apparently doesn’t meet.

The device is reportedly being assembled from about 10 components by a team in Florida, but iFixit speculates that the chassis and display are imported as a pre-assembled unit (probably from the same factory in China that made the HTC U24 Pro), with Trump Mobile’s team likely just adding things like the battery and camera module — all of which are likely to be put into the shore as well, but just built elsewhere in the phone.

So if you want a phone that is more than superficially American, this is not the handset for you.

That said, the Trump T1 is at least priced similar to the HTC U24 Pro, so it’s arguably not the total rip-off you might have expected. iFixit jokes that “against all expectations, the T1 is actually well priced compared to the similarly specced U24 Pro, and the only things you give up are the 60W fast charge and your dignity.” We couldn’t have phrased it better ourselves.

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