Trump Phone: not all that glitters is gold

Jan Johannsen

17-6-2025

Translation: machine translated

The US President's family is entering the mobile phone business. But tariffs and smartphones are only for Trump fanboys.

As always, the promises are big, but in the end Trump Mobile is just a virtual reseller in T-Mobile's mobile network. The most exciting thing about the golden T1 is where the smartphone is to be manufactured in the USA for 500 dollars. Other manufacturers definitely have better devices on sale for less money.

Mid-range smartphone with a lousy camera setup

I'm just imagining that in Germany, Chancellor Merz's children would suddenly introduce Merz Mobile and the M1. In Switzerland, it would be Keller-Sutter Mobile with the KKS1 this year. However, this is not about nepotism or the dilemmas faced by heads of regulatory authorities appointed by presidents. We are looking at the technology:

And here the T1 is at least partially in line with current mid-range smartphones. However, the camera setup in particular is disappointing in comparison with some much cheaper devices. I'm thinking of the Nothing Phone (3a), for example.

Trump Mobile does not provide any information on the very relevant chipset of the T1. They are following Huawei's example. We will probably only find out which one it is once the first devices are in circulation. The most important known key data:

• 6.78-inch AMOLED with 120 hertz
• 5000 mAh battery (even though the official data sheet initially mentioned a «5000mAh long life camera» )
• 50 megapixel main camera
• 2-megapixel macro camera
• 2-megapixel depth sensor
• 16-megapixel front camera
• 12 gigabytes of RAM
• 256 gigabytes of storage space
• 3.5 mm connection
• Android 15

Although three cameras are visible on the back of the T1, only one of them is actually usable. The depth sensor only provides information for blurred portrait shots and macro cameras with such a low resolution are known to have miserable image quality.

The search has already begun to find out which smartphone Trump Mobile is gold-plating here. But so far no one has found a device with exactly these specifications. And so far there is only the one bad picture of Photoshop-Philipp. Neither presentable dummies, prototypes nor reasonably rendered product images.

Made in the USA for 500 dollars

For those who are not convinced by the gold and other design elements - is there actually a trademark lawsuit from T-Mobile? - and the poor relationship between price and data sheet, you can already pay a deposit of 100 dollars. The T1 costs a total of 499 dollars and should be available from August or September. However, some people sense the next scam from Trump:

I am definitely reminded of another golden smartphone that never appeared:

The smartphone is supposed to be manufactured in the USA. However, there are currently no relevant production facilities in the USA. Can they be set up so quickly? Only the small manufacturer Purism is currently advertising that it will produce a smartphone in the USA. However, the Linux smartphone Librem 5 will cost 2,000 dollars, which is significantly more than its Chinese-made predecessor, which is available for 800 dollars. Mind you, for hardware that was cool in 2014.

If it succeeds with production in the USA, it will be exciting to see whether Trump Mobile is as open about the origin of its components as Purism.

47.45 dollars is not a good deal

Trump Mobile only offers the tariff «The 47 Plan» for $47.45 a month. This comes with unlimited calls - including international calls - and text messages as well as 20 gigabytes of data. As a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), the company uses the T-Mobile network in the USA. However, the offer is not attractive. With Mint Mobile, Metro and US Mobile, among others, there are several MVNOs on T-Mobile's network with more favourable tariffs.

By the way, the 47.45 dollars are not a hard-calculated business plan, but a lure for fans of the 45th and 47th president of the USA, who also buy lots of other fan merchandise.

Jan Johannsen

Senior Editor

Jan.Johannsen@galaxus.de

As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus. more

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