KUALA LUMPUR – The Trump Organisation’s much-hyped smartphone, initially labelled as “Made in the USA”, has quietly dropped the tag from its website amid mounting scepticism over whether the device is truly American-made.
Announced on June 16, the Trump T1 phone was launched with claims of domestic production. But by this week, references to “Made in the USA” had disappeared from Trump Mobile’s website, replaced with more ambiguous phrases such as “American-Proud Design” and “designed with American values in mind”.
The shift was first reported by tech outlet The Verge and confirmed by CNN through archived versions of the website captured by the Internet Archive.
Despite the revisions, the Trump Mobile team maintains the phone is still US-made.
“Speculation to the contrary is simply inaccurate,” a spokesperson said, according to reports.
“We’re excited to launch the phones later this year.”
Analysts, however, remain unconvinced. CCS Insight’s Leo Gebbie told BBC that assembling a smartphone domestically is “highly unlikely”, given the US lacks a high-tech supply chain capable of producing devices at scale.
“Assembling the phone in the US from parts imported elsewhere is the most likely path,” he said, as reported by the BBC.
Industry experts also point to vague language used by the company. “Designed” and “built” often refer to branding or final assembly, not full-scale manufacturing, said Ryan Reith of the International Data Corporation.
“There are no phones that are really being built in the US from start to finish,” he told CNN.
Fuel was added to the fire when the phone’s specifications changed post-launch. The T1 was initially listed with a 6.78-inch screen, but the site now says it has a 6.25-inch display. Memory specs have also been removed entirely.
The T1, priced at US$499 and decked out in gold, is being developed by T1 Mobile LLC, a firm licensing the Trump brand.
The launch was led by Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, who told media that “eventually all the phones can be built in the United States”.
President Donald Trump – who is not involved in the company’s operations – has also been vocal in urging tech giants like Apple to shift production back to American soil.
In May, he posted on social media platform Truth Social: “I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States… will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else.”
But experts remain firm that domestic smartphone production at scale is unrealistic under current conditions. BBC reported that Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities called the idea of a US-made iPhone a “fairy tale”, estimating it would cost over US$3,000 and take years to realise.
For now, the Trump T1’s claims of American manufacturing remain as elusive as the promised September launch, which has now been delayed to later this year. – June 27, 2025
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