The family of US President Donald Trump has announced it will launch its own virtual mobile network and release a Trump-branded phone which it claims will be made in America and begin shipping later this year.
Announced on Monday by Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, the Trump Mobile brand said it would release its T1 Phone — “a sleek, gold smartphone engineered for performance and proudly designed and built in the United States” — in August for $767 ($US499).
The announcement raised some concerns in US media over whether the device really would be made in the US given its relatively affordable price point, and what the end product would be, given odd specifications announced by The Trump Organisation and a basic mockup of the design with very few details.
Images published of the T1 Phone design showed three rear camera lenses of identical sizes, despite the main camera supposedly being a 50-megapixel sensor and the other two being a much smaller 2MP macro lens and a 2MP “depth sensor”.
There was also no camera flash pictured in the image.
Donald Trump did not take part in Monday’s announcement and has not posted about the T1 Phone at the time of writing.
He has threatened a 25 per cent tariff on smartphones imported into the US, which a Trump Mobile customer service representative reportedly told Wired the T1 Phone would not be affected by.
Strange specifications and a ‘bad deal’ plan
The T1 Phone will supposedly run the Android 15 operating system and have a 6.78-inch AMOLED touch screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate, a 16MP front-facing camera, and fingerprint and face verification for unlocking the device.
While the Trump Mobile website initially said the device had a “5,000 mAh long life camera” — referring to a battery’s milliampere-hour capacity — this was later fixed to state the device would have a “5,000 mAh long-life battery”.
While no processor was detailed, the phone will allegedly have 12GB of memory, 256GB of storage, and a slot for a memory card.
The device is said to offer a USB-C port, but still carries a 3.5mm headphone jack which some modern smartphones no longer use.
Donald Trump has threatened 25 per cent tariffs on smartphones imported into the United States. Image: Shutterstock
Trump Mobile claimed it would offer 5G service through all three major US cellular providers — none of which reportedly responded when asked by Wired about their alleged deals.
The Trump Mobile plan is dubbed ‘The 47 Plan’ in a nod to Trump’s current term as 47th US President, and its monthly cost of $USD47.45 ($72) also references his term as the 45th president.
The plan is said to include unlimited phone calls and texts, 20GB of 5G data, and some level of device coverage, roadside assistance, and telehealth services provided by third parties.
Additionally, Trump Mobile said it had a 24/7 US-based customer service group staffed by humans, and not automated software.
Customers would also be able to bring their own compatible device to the Trump Mobile network, The Trump Organisation said.
Eric Trump, the group's executive vice president, said “hard-working Americans deserve a wireless service that's affordable, reflects their values, and delivers reliable quality they can count on”.
While he added the organisation was “especially proud” to offer free international calls to US military members and their families, published details of the plan confirmed free international texting for those customers, but only “discounted international calling”.
US technology news site The Verge deemed the plan “a bad deal” based on its price and other plans available in the US.
‘The worst experience … buying a consumer electronic product’
Joseph Cox, a reporter with US technology news site 404 Media, said he tried to make the $150 ($US100) downpayment required to pre-order the T1 Phone, but the website failed and his credit card was charged the wrong amount of $US64.70.
Cox said he received an email informing him he would receive confirmation when his order had been shipped, despite him not yet being asked to provide a shipping address.
“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,” he wrote.
What’s more, all sales are “final and non-refundable" according to Trump Mobile’s terms of use, and The Trump Organisation has used a legal disclaimer to potentially limit its liability from the Trump Mobile products.
At the bottom of its press release it said Trump Mobile products and services were “not designed, developed, manufactured, distributed or sold" by the organisation or its affiliates, and were rather sold by T1 Mobile LLC which used the “Trump” name and trademark under a licensing agreement.
Trump Mobile and the T1 Phone are far from the first consumer products launched by the Trump family under Donald Trump’s terms as US President, with The Trump Organisation previously marketing items such as branded bibles, cryptocurrency, and gold sneakers.
