After a nine-month delay, the Trump Mobile “T1” smartphone was sent out this week to pre-order customers and some members of the media. There was just a slight problem.
The gold-plated $499 phone is no longer marketed as “Made in the USA,” and the American flag design on the back of the handset appears to have 11 stripes instead of 13.
The Android-operated device was first promoted as “Made in the USA” in June 2025, CNN and NBC News noted. But Trump Mobile has since changed the language on its website to “designed with American values in mind.”
Trump Mobile CEO Pat O’Brien told USA Today that the phones were “assembled” in the U.S. and that models will use components “primarily manufactured in America.” Tech experts told NBC News that the phone appears to resemble an HTC U-24 Pro, which is made in Taiwan.
“It looks physically very similar, and that matches with what we’ve been told so far,” Shahram Mokhtari, an engineer at tech repair company iFixit told NBC News. Tech outlet The Verge also reported that the phone was likely a U-24 Pro device.
The Trump name also appears on the handset four times, according to the outlet. The Independent has contacted the Trump Organization for comment.
“We tested the Trump Mobile phone. It was 9 months late, comes pre-loaded with Truth Social, and is no longer ‘Made in the USA,’” NBC News said in a summary of its review on social media.
“The 13 stripes represent the 13 colonies that broke away from British rule to fight for independence, so you probably shouldn’t just lop two of them off,” wrote The Verge’s Dominic Preston, who has been tracking the release of the T1 phone.
Other critics joined in. “[A]ctually kind of hilarious (& sad!) that the Trump phone has 11 stripes on it (actual flag has 13),” Sheel Mohnot, a fintech entreprenuer, posted on X.
“An overpriced, outdated phone, preloaded with propaganda that is no longer “made in the USA,” is the perfect metaphor for Trump’s Republican Party,” said Melanie D’Arrigo, an executive director of a New York health advocacy group.
Trump Mobile is a venture co-founded by the president’s eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, with the latter’s photo appearing prominently on the Trump Mobile website.
The T1 phone was expected to launch in August 2025 but as months went by, critics became skeptical that the device would ever be released. O’Brien said the delays “were worth it in our minds as we are delivering an amazing product.”
To order a T1 phone, customers must provide a $100 refundable deposit and join the waitlist for the $499 handset which is a “promotional price” according to NBC News. Customers will also have to pay $47.45 per month for the plan.
In January, a group of Democratic senators led by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren demanded the Federal Trade Commission investigate Trump Mobile over concerns about potentially misleading marketing tied to prepaid deposits and questions about whether the phone is actually made in the U.S.
Beyond the T1, Trump Mobile also offers additional devices, including “renewed” models from Samsung and Apple, and allows customers to bring their own phones to the network.
