'The grift never ends': Critics blast Trump over 'cheap Chinese android device'

17 June

Donald Trump embraces Donald Trump Jr as Lara Trump, Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump look on at his campaign rally, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 4, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

The Trump Organization claimed its newly-announced T1 smartphone will be "built in the United States" in accord with President Donald Trump's campaign for more stateside manufacturing. But analysts say the phone will likely be produced by a Chinese original device manufacturer.

"There is no way the phone was designed from scratch and there is no way it is going to be assembled in the U.S. or completely manufactured in the U.S.," said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president at International Data Corporation. "That is completely impossible."

Owned by U.S. President Donald Trump, The Trump Organization announced the gold-colored android device would retail for $499. However, reaction on social media was not kind.

“Busted,” wrote Washington Post journalist Jonathan Greenberg on Bluesky. “Trump scam of the day … China. Anyone surprised?” Greenberg included a link to an appleinsider.com article claiming the phone “is a cheap Chinese android device, that they are tripling the Amazon price of, slapping on new plastic, and calling it a day.”

“The grift never ends,” posted former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. “… Trump raked in $57M from his family's crypto company in 2024. And this doesn't even account for his memecoin, which launched this year. Now he's lending his name to ‘Trump Mobile.’”

The Verge posted its own doubts, saying the phone “looks both bad and impossible,” and posted a link to Verge gadget reviewer David Pierce, who said he doubted almost every Trump Organization claim about the device.

“All we have is a website that was clearly put together quickly and somewhat sloppily, a promise that the phone is ‘designed and built in the USA’ that I absolutely do not believe, a picture that appears to be nearly 100 percent Photoshopped, and a list of specs that don’t make a lot of sense together,” Pierce wrote.

Other critics appeared to buttress Pierce’s argument about the shoddy website.

“I just tried to pre-order the Trump T1 Phone…, posted crime journalist and author Joseph Cox. “The website failed, went to an error page, and then charged my credit card the wrong amount of $64.70. I have no idea whether or how I’ll receive the phone.”

“Whoever falls for this scam is a straight up clown,” said another critic.

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