Featured Image Credit: KENT NISHIMURA / Contributor via Getty
There's been a lot of debate about Trump Mobile's T1, with the golden smartphone supposed to be the President of the United States' all-American rival to the iPhone. Launched as 'American-designed' and 'American-made', the T1 is about as patriotic as it comes, complete with an American flag (that's missing a few stripes).
When the T1 smartphone was announced back in June 2025, there were raised eyebrows when it was discovered the initial images were little more than a reskinned version of China's Wingtech Revvl 7 Pro 5G. The Trump Mobile site also had to dial back its all-American credentials and was called out over an apparent use of AI, but as pre-orders flew in for the $499 device, 590,000 people are said to have placed $100 deposits to raise a jaw-dropping $59 million in advance.
Many continued to consider the T1 a scam, which meant we were even more surprised when it finally started shipping in May 2026. As outlets and tech YouTubers alike finally got their hands on Donald Trump's phone, some unfavorably dubbed it Scrooge McDuck gold, while it was quickly picked apart for apparently being little more than a remodelled 2024 HTC U24 Pro.
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Now, NBC News has really put the T1 through its paces and (literally) pulled it apart to see what's going on under the hood.
NBC News' Brian Cheung tasked iFixit's Lead Teardown Technician Shahram Mokhtari with finding out the truth behind the T1, which involved putting it through a modified CT scanner. Cheung struggled to tell the scan apart from another iFixit took of the HTC U24 Pro, with the guts of both devices looking 'eerily' similar.
Most parts were in the exact same place aside from the flash, the pixels in the screen had the same non-American pattern, and when opening up the T1, a mention of the Philippines was on the inside.
Cheung says iFixit confirmed the parts are "very much not American as Trump Mobile orignally promised," and although Mokhtari said we likely won't know unless we go to the factories, he thinks it unlikely the T1 was made in the USA.
Mokhtari pointed to the HTC U24 Pro and concluded: "This is a Chinese phone, everything we've seen suggests that the T1 was manufactured in the same factory."
As we mentioned near the start, the T1 initially said it was made in the USA, but now, simply says it's assembled there.
HTC and Trump Mobile didn't reply to NBC's request for comment, while the final test involved making a Frankenstein phone out of the pair in an attempt to prove they're effectively twins. Using the HTC U24 Pro board inside the T1, Cheung was able to boot up the smartphone (which displayed the HTC logo) and even take a photo with it.
When grilled on how well the T1 is selling, Cheung reiterated that Trump Mobile hadn't revealed this. Still, he pointed to a security vulnerability that leaked customer details and suggested tens of thousands of pre-orders had been logged.
You can currently pick up a HTC U2 Pro for between $470 and $550, but if you're impressed by its specs and want to fly your flag for the POTUS, the teardown might make you consider the T1.
