Made with Photoshop Instead of Made in America: This Smartphone is a Joke
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When the Trump Phone was announced, we already wrote: This phone is a lie! That still seems to be true, as the ominous smartphone can be pre-ordered — and is constantly changing its design. The trail of the US patriot phone leads us to South Korea in the latest picture. Here is my opinion on this outrage.
When Trump's sons announced they now wanted to launch their own Trump Mobile tariff along with their own Trump Phone, you could already guess it: The smell of vaporware and snake oil was so heavy and concentrated in the air that the fumes bit into your nose. We were not shown a real smartphone. There was just an expensive tariff that costs $47.45 a month, and a really bad piece of Photoshop work on the Trump Phone page.
Trump Phone: A Bad Joke from the Start
As a reminder, it was more of an entry-level smartphone that was quickly exposed as a variant of a cheap Chinese phone. $499 was to be the price for every true MAGA-Head who wanted to show off a golden smartphone with "Made in America" engraved on it. Clearly, the number one selling point should be that this is a truly American product.
The "Made in America" label was removed months ago. "Proudly designed and built in the United States", as you can still read in the press release, recently became "Designed with American values in mind". Incidentally, the T1 Phone, as it is officially called, is apparently also a shrinking phone: initially announced with a 6.8-inch size, it is now significantly smaller at 6.25 inches. However, as you can see from the screenshot, nothing has changed in the picture. It is still a smartphone that looks like the Wingtech REVVL 7 Pro 5G:
The Big Secret: What Does it Look Like?
As suspected, the device is not produced in the USA. It is also smaller than expected, while the asking price of $499 is clearly too high for the given specifications. But what does the smartphone actually look like? As shown in the screenshot? Or is it more like the iPhone 16 Pro Max? This was also used in a shade of gold to advertise the Trump smartphone.
- What a really good smartphone looks like: The iPhone 16 Pro review
But that's not the last transformation of this miracle smartphone. If it wants to, it can suddenly look like a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (review) with a Spigen cover — at least in posts by Trump Mobile:
Incidentally, it was advertised in the text as "With American hands behind every device". How smart do I have to be to buy this thing, even though it looks different in every picture and I've been deceived by the "Made in America" promise? MAGA fans will probably be less interested. By the way, my dear colleague Roland Quandt from WinFuture has not only identified the Spigen case — the Spigen Thin Fit (MagFit) Case — but also directly compared the original and the fake:
No effort was made to disguise the original phone by changing the camera design, for example. They don't even bother to erase the slot for the S Pen at the bottom. The Trump team didn't even remove the Spigen logo. The only thing left to consider now is whether it is really cheeky to leave it as it is. Looking at the still poorly photoshopped US flag, there is also the suspicion that they simply don't have the skills to properly edit an image.
Conclusion: Nobody, I mean Nobody, should buy this Trump Phone
Is it cheeky of me to advise against buying a smartphone before I — or our smartphone experts — have reviewed it? Normally, I would say "Yes". On the other hand, the technical specifications are enough to show that the price is far too expensive. In this case, however, nobody should really buy it. This smartphone is vaporware, whatever might be shipped soon. Bear in mind that people who can pre-order it now will already have the first $100 charged to their credit card. ... for a smartphone that they really don't know much about and don't even have any idea what it looks like.
I don't have any pre-sales figures, but I have a solid basic trust in the stupidity and foolishness of the MAGA bubble. These people will make sure that the Trump family also makes money from this outrage. We'll keep an eye on this and get back to you when we actually know what we're dealing with. And yes: if the Trump phone that is delivered suddenly turns out to be the best smartphone in the world, I will apologize to you all here, I promise!
