Business

Trump’s $499 Smartphone Will Likely Be Built in China Despite ‘Made in U.S.’ Claim, Experts Say

By Jake Beardslee · June 18, 2025

The Trump Organization announced its new T1 smartphone on Monday, touting the $499 gold-colored Android device as “built in the United States.” But industry experts say the phone is almost certainly manufactured by a Chinese original device manufacturer (ODM), casting doubt on claims of American production.

Francisco Jeronimo, vice president at International Data Corp., told CNBC, “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. That is completely impossible.”

The phone, marketed under U.S. President Donald Trump’s company, features a 6.8-inch AMOLED display and a 50-megapixel camera. At its modest price point, analysts suggest the device will rely heavily on foreign components, particularly from Asia. Analysts say the display is likely made by Samsung, LG, or China’s BOE, while the processor could come from Taiwan-based MediaTek or Qualcomm, whose chips are also typically produced in Taiwan, according to CNBC. The camera’s image sensors would likely be sourced from Japan’s Sony.

“Despite being advertised as an American-made phone, it is likely that this device will be initially produced by a Chinese ODM,” said Blake Przesmicki of Counterpoint Research.

Counterpoint’s Jeff Fieldhack emphasized the structural limitations of the U.S. tech sector, saying, “The U.S. does not have local manufacturing capabilities readily available,” and added that even with partial domestic assembly, reliance on imported components is unavoidable.

Trump has long pressured tech companies to shift manufacturing to the U.S. and criticized Apple’s offshore production, although experts seem to agree that large-scale domestic electronics manufacturing would be extremely difficult and cost-prohibitive.