Will the Trump T1 phone be worth it?

Three renders later, and still not made in America despite initial claims to the contrary, the low-end Android phone that Trump Mobile took up for pre-order a year ago would soon be shipping.

Immediately after widespread reports that the Trump T1 cell phone may never ship, Trump Mobile announced that yes, it will. In a post on X with another render, the company says it has arrived and will “start shipping this week.”

The accompanying video describes the phone as a “powerful device built for performance, reliability and true American value.” The United States today Reports say the first phones were assembled in the US, but we’re told the final assembly was only cosmetic. We’ll talk about that in a moment.

What is certain, however, is that despite initial and retracted claims that the Trump T1 phone was actually made in America, this is not the case. Renders shown by Trump Mobile at the launch quickly turned out to be of a phone made in China.

Now the latest renders show a completely different phone, but it’s once again a rebadged Chinese model instead of actually being made in America. This is most likely the HTC U24 Pro of 2024.

Far from being what the new ad says is “a flagship smartphone, without the flagship price”, this is a two-year-old model, almost to the day, that was never a flagship. The most positive opinions on this generally poorly received model, just after its launch, qualified the HTC U24 Pro as a mid-range smartphone.

“(It has) some nice touches,” Tech Advisor concluded in December 2024, “but weird bugs, clunky handling, and a short lifespan make it hard to recommend.”

NotebookCheck called it “outdated” at launch, while a Reddit user just said the “cameras suck.”

The comment about a short lifespan was about how HTC was then going to support the phone with updates for two years. This means that although it shipped with Android 14, it was later sold with Android 15, which the Trump T1 will run.

Android 15 was rolled out from September 2024, but Android 16 started shipping from June 2025, and Android 17 is expected to be announced at Google I/O the week of May 16, 2026. It’s not confirmed, but it’s likely that the HTC U24 Pro and therefore the Trump T1 phones won’t be able to run Android 16, which is almost a year old.

In the other direction of lifespan, as in terms of battery charge, the HTC U24 Pro generally displays good reports. But forum users on GSMArenewho were the first to note that the Trump T1 is the HTC U24 Pro, also note that the T1 however has slower charging.

When pre-orders for the Trump T1 phone began in June 2025, interested consumers were required to pay a $100 deposit before what was then expected to be an August 2025 shipping date. The final phone was expected to cost $499 for those who pre-ordered at the time, and while it’s not yet clear what today’s buyers who didn’t pay a deposit will pay, it’s more.

Presumably, these pre-order consumers will be charged $399 over the next week.

After that, the Trump T1 comes with a cell package called Plan 47. Named after Trump is the 45th and 47th president, this is a $47.45 per month (plus tax) plan, which will give:

• Unlimited calls and texts in the United States
• Unlimited international calls to over 230 territories
• 20 GB of high-speed data every 30 days
• Video streaming at 480p
• No hotspot capability

For comparison, T-Mobile currently offers unlimited data for $50 per month on its Essentials Saver plan. This plan is slightly poorer in terms of international calls as it includes unlimited calls to 215 countries.

However, the same plan offers unlimited calls not only to the United States, but also to Canada and Mexico. Additionally, it allows hotspot use of the phone at 3G speeds.

Handset prices

When the Trump T1 was revealed to be China’s Revvl 7 Pro 5G, it was selling for less than $250 instead of $499. Prices for all smartphones vary by contract and carrier, but the HTC U24 Pro typically costs around $450 to purchase.

This makes the Trump T1 markup only $49 instead of $249, if you had already pre-ordered it. This still means that even with this pre-order discount, the Trump T1 is sold for the same price as the Google Pixel 10a 2026.

Trump Mobile said the T1 phone would cost new users more. We sent a few emails and made a few calls this morning. A source close to the matter told us that the T1, once the batch is shipped to the first depositors soon, will sell for “at least $599”.

The same source told us that this was a “simple effort” to offer something to early adopters and that Trump Mobile doesn’t make much on each phone, if at all. The same source also told us that “final assembly” involves simply putting on the back panel with the Trump branding and boxing.

So while the final figure hasn’t been publicly announced yet, it will put the Trump T1 phone in the same $599 price range as the iPhone 17e, which is a better phone in every way.

While Trump Mobile has been heavily criticized for long delays in shipping the T1 handset, the company has been selling phones almost since the beginning. It’s just that these are what he calls “renewed” models from other companies.

So right now it’s selling a third-party refurbished iPhone 15 for $629 for 128GB of storage, running iOS 18, while Apple is selling this model new starting at $699 with iOS 26. Amazon is currently selling the same refurbished iPhone 15 configuration for around $425.

Similarly, Amazon US is offering the iPhone 14 renewal for around $305, while Trump Mobile is selling it for $489.

The iPhone 14 2022 and iPhone 15 2023 are better and more capable phones for the end user than the T1.