(Credit: Trump Mobile)
Two executives are promising that the long-delayed Trump Mobile T1 phone will arrive soon, possibly by the end of March. But it won’t be American-made.
Trump Mobile executives Don Hendrickson and Eric Thomas spoke to The Verge about the phone, which was supposed to launch in August or September, but is currently MIA. The executives revealed that the T1 has been redesigned with improved specs, including a larger screen closer to 6.8 inches, rather than the original 6.25-inch display.
The device will also use an unspecified Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 series chipset, carry a higher amount of storage at 512GB, and feature support for an up to 1TB microSD card.
In the interview, Thomas also briefly showed the redesigned T1, which sports a more oval-ish camera bay, dropping the square design. But it still maintains the large T1 lettering and American flag icon on the rear, along with the Trump Mobile logo on the bottom.
On the downside, the T1 is going to cost more. Customers who placed a $100 preorder deposit will still only need to pay a total $499 for the device. But Trump Mobile plans on hiking up the final price for non preorders, although it’ll still be less than $1,000.
In the interview, the executives confirmed the phone isn't American-made after the company distanced itself from the marketing claim back in June. The Federal Trade Commission also requires American-made products to feature no foreign content—a high threshold to clear when many mainstream phones and their components are made in Asia.
Instead, the Trump Mobile executives vaguely explained that production is being handled by a “favored nation.” That said, the T1 will still go through a “final assembly” stage in Miami that “apparently involves putting together the final 10 or so pieces,” The Verge says.
Trump Mobile hasn’t set a firm ship date. But the company plans on selling the device after it clears certification with T-Mobile, which should occur sometime mid-March. The carrier is also preparing to relaunch its website with new images of the redesigned phone and the full spec sheet.