President Donald Trump is the proud owner of a new iPhone. America's commander-in-chief is now confirmed to be tweeting from a device he called on supporters to boycott during last year's campaign, citing the tech giant's refusal to cooperate with authorities investigating the San Bernardino shootings.
White House director of social media, and senior advisor to Trump, Dan Scavino Jr. took to Twitter Tuesday night to reveal the president's smartphone buy.
"[Trump] has been using his new iPhone [smartphone emoji] for the past couple of weeks here on Twitter. Yes, it is #POTUS45 reading & tweeting!" he writes.
Trump's use of Apple products, namely iPhone, is well documented. While seeking a GOP nomination last year, he would regularly switch off between an iPhone and an Android smartphone for tweet posting duties. That ended -- for a couple weeks -- when Trump addressed the then recent San Bernardino terror attack.
"First of all Apple should give the security for that phone, okay?" Trump said at the time. "What I think you oughta do is boycott Apple until such time as they give that security number. How do you like...I just thought of that."
Trump later admitted to using both Apple and Samsung products in a tweet from Twitter's web client, but said he would stick to Samsung until Apple complied with FBI demands.
As part of an ongoing investigation into the San Bernardino shootings, FBI agents recovered an iPhone 5c used by suspect Syed Rizwan Farook. A federal judge later ordered Apple to assist in bypassing the phone's passcode lock, but the company refused, saying that doing so would weaken its security protocols.
The Department of Justice purchased a working bypass from a third-party and withdrew its case against Apple shortly before the two parties were slated to meet in a series of court hearings. Speculation at the time suggested the legal battle's outcome would have had implications on the public's right to digital privacy.
As for Trump's new iPhone, it is unclear whether the device is a modified model with enhanced security safeguards or a consumer version. It is also unknown if the president is dedicated to a single device.
In either case, the new hardware is a welcome upgrade over Trump's old device, which was thought to be a Samsung Galaxy S3. First released in 2012, the aging smartphone is no longer capable of running Google's latest Android software, meaning it poses a security threat to end users.
Concerns regarding Trump's smartphone predilections reached Congress in February when two Democratic senators on the Homeland Security Committee asked Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis whether the president was using a potentially unsecured device. Today that question was answered -- fittingly -- in a tweet.