Repair Experts Disassemble the Trump Phone: What Really Lies Inside the Golden Case
The repair experts at iFixit have disassembled the first phone from Trump Mobile. The result: Made in America apparently means nothing here.
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The repair experts at iFixit have disassembled the first phone from Trump Mobile. The result: Made in America apparently means nothing here.
The repair platform iFixit took apart the T1 Phone from Trump Mobile, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization. The result: Under the golden shell lies an HTC U24 Pro from China and Taiwan – contradicting the initial advertising promises of the manufacturer that one could purchase a phone "Made in the USA."
Identical Hardware in the Golden Case
The analysis shows that the Trump phone is essentially a two-year-old Android smartphone from HTC. iFixit ran both devices through a CT scanner and then completely disassembled them. The internals match almost entirely. Both smartphones use the same motherboard, the same processor (Snapdragon 7 Gen 3), offered twelve gigabytes of RAM, and 512 gigabytes of storage. The motherboard of the HTC model worked flawlessly in the Trump case, as documented by iFixit.
The differences are limited to cosmetic details: The position of the flash has been slightly shifted, and the speaker grille has a different perforation. Only the battery shows a significant difference: The cell of the T1 Phone has 19.35 watt-hours, while the HTC U24 Pro has 17.23 watt-hours. However, the Trump phone only charges at 30 watts instead of 60 watts like the original.
Designed in Taiwan, Assembled in Florida?
The teardown contradicts the advertising promises behind the T1. "When you put this information together, you do not get a pride-in-America design." iFixit assumes that most parts come from China, and it is unclear whether HTC had the design implemented in its home country of Taiwan or in mainland China.
The Trump Organization initially marketed the T1 specifically as "Made in the USA." After the first pre-orders, the company softened this claim. The phone was said to be designed with "American values." However, the packaging now only states "Assembled in the USA." According to Trump Mobile and the Trump Organization, a team in Florida assembles the phone from individual parts. This is reminiscent of the import of pre-manufactured cars in the form of so-called knock-down kits to save on customs duties.
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