President Donald Trump’s household enterprise is taking preorders for a gold-colored smartphone, the T1.
Trump Cellular, which launched Tuesday, says the system can be obtainable in September, price far lower than Apple’s and Samsung’s smartphones — and be made in the US, aligning with the president’s “America First” financial ethos.
Business consultants and tech journalists immediately forged doubt on these claims. And if Carlsbad, California-based smartphone maker Purism is any instance, it might take rather more than two months for Trump Cellular to construct an American-made smartphone from scratch. It might additionally most definitely be dearer than the T1’s marketed value of $499.
At $2,000, Purism’s Liberty Cellphone is dearer than an iPhone 16 Professional. It has half the iPhone’s reminiscence with roughly twice the thickness. You can also’t obtain many apps on it. Based on Todd Weaver, who based Purism in 2014, it is the one U.S.-made smartphone available on the market.
However with “kill switches” to show off its Wi-Fi, digital camera and microphone, the Liberty Cellphone is marketed as a safe possibility as a result of it additionally carries its personal working system designed by Purism.
It took a variety of effort and time to get to that time, Weaver instructed NBC Information. Going from “I want to make a telephone and I want to make it within the U.S.” to really attaining it took six years, he mentioned.
Purism’s meeting line consists of simply 4 individuals screwing collectively telephones by hand — a far cry from the shoulder-to-shoulder line of individuals and automatic equipment usually related to mass manufacturing services in China.
The “Made within the USA electronics” sticker that Purism slaps on the product is a declaration of confidence — because the Federal Commerce Fee regulates claims of that kind.
On this photograph illustration, an iPhone shows the web site for The Trump Group’s cell phone service and a Trump-branded smartphone on June 16, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Photographs
But even Purism’s built-in-America telephone wants some overseas assist. Ninety p.c of its supplies come from the US, Canada or Europe. Among the many parts made elsewhere: a chassis from China, digital camera modules from China or South Korea and a Bluetooth module from India. Purism publishes that info on-line.
For supplies like a selected crystal obligatory for the motherboard to function, Purism says there aren’t any choices for U.S. sourcing, that means there is not any selection however to purchase from China.
“There simply is not an organization but offering that single crystal,” Weaver mentioned.
The Trump Group did not reply to questions on how Trump Cellular’s T1 telephone can be made.
One other challenge looming over the market: Trump’s ever-shifting commerce insurance policies. He just lately threatened a 25% tariff on all smartphone imports, taking purpose at producers like Apple and Samsung, which make their telephones overseas.
“Once more, after they construct their plant right here, there is not any tariff, so they’ll be constructing crops right here,” he mentioned final month.
The proportion of the supplies for Purism’s telephone that come from abroad is sufficiently small that tariffs from the Trump administration would not have an effect on its $2,000 value. However the tariffs would have an effect on a telephone Purism does make in China, known as the Librem 5. It is priced at $800, however new import duties would take it nearer to the Liberty telephone’s $2,000 degree.
Whereas tariffs are a “good incentive” for manufacturing in the US, Weaver mentioned, the administration’s on-again, off-again strategy makes it robust to plan.
“It is horrible,” Weaver mentioned. “When you’ve got no concept and you may’t predict [the policy], it’s totally arduous for any firm, for any enterprise proprietor. From T-shirts, textiles to excessive tech, it is extremely arduous to make a long-term enterprise determination once you’re in a whipsaw.”
