iFixit Confirms $499 Trump Mobile T1 Is Reskinned HTC U24 Pro

1 articles · Updated · TechSpot · Jun 16

iFixit found the Trump Mobile T1 is effectively an HTC U24 Pro after opening an NBC-supplied unit and even booting it with a U24 motherboard.
Specs and internals closely matched HTC’s phone, with only minor changes such as a gold chassis, altered camera shell, re-drilled speaker holes, and a 5,000mAh battery instead of 4,600mAh.
That teardown undercuts Trump Mobile’s original promise that the phone would be “designed and built in the United States,” language the company later softened to “Proudly American.”
Taiwan regulatory records list China-based Guangdong Yuanchang Electronics as manufacturer of the U24 Pro, reinforcing doubts about domestic production even though final T1 assembly occurs in Miami.
The findings highlight how hard US smartphone manufacturing remains: analysts estimate a fully domestic handset would take about a decade to build from scratch, while T1 preorders have opened at $499.