Trump Mobile's low-end T1 Android phone ships soon, for iPhone 17e prices

Three renders later, and still not made in America despite original claims to the contrary, the low-end Android phone Trump Mobile took preorders for a year ago will reportedly ship soon.

Immediately following widespread reports that the Trump T1 cellphone may never ship, Trump Mobile has announced that oh, yes, it will. In a posting on X with another render, the company says that it has arrived, and will "start shipping this week."

The accompanying video describes the phone as being a "powerful device designed for performance, reliability, and real American value." USA Today reports being told that the first phones have been assembled in the US, but we've been told that the final assembly is cosmetic only. More on that in a bit.

It is certain, however, that despite the initial and the retracted claims about the Trump T1 phone being actually made in America, it is anything but. The renders Trump Mobile showed at launch were soon proven to be of a phone made in China.

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

Left: the latest Trump T1 renders. Right: HTC's images of its HTC U24 Pro - image credits: Trump Mobile, HTC

So far from being what the new announcement says is "a flagship smartphone, without the flagship price," it's a two-year-old model, almost to the day, that never was a flagship. The most positive reviews of this generally poorly received model, right after launch, called the HTC U24 Pro a mid-range smartphone.

"[It has] some nice touches," concluded Tech Advisor back in December 2024, "but strange bugs, awkward handling and a short lifespan make it hard to recommend."

NotebookCheck called it "out of date" at launch, while one Reddit user just said that the "cameras suck."

The comment about a short lifespan was to do with how HTC was then going to support the phone with updates for two years. That means that while it shipped with Android 14, it has subsequently been sold with Android 15, which the Trump T1 will run.

Android 15 rolled out beginning September 2024, but Android 16 began shipping from June 2025, and Android 17 is set to be announced at Google I/O the week of May 16, 2026. It's not confirmed, but it's probable that the HTC U24 Pro and so the Trump T1 phones will not be able to run the nearly one-year-old Android 16.

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

When pre-orders for the Trump T1 phone started back in June 2025, interested consumers were required to pay a $100 deposit ahead of what was then to be an August 2025 shipping date. The final phone was to cost $499 for those who pre-ordered then, and while it's not yet known what buyers today that did not pay a deposit will pay, it is more.

Presumably, then, those pre-order consumers are going to get charged $399 in the next week or so.

After that, the Trump T1 comes with a cell package called the 47 Plan. Named after Trump being the 45th and 47th President, it's a $47.45 per month plan (plus taxes), which will reported give:

• Unlimited calls and texts within the US
• Unlimited international calls to over 230 territories
• 20GB high-speed data per 30 days
• Video streaming at 480p
• No hotspot capability

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

However, the same plan gives unlimited calls not only to the US, but also to Canada and Mexico. Plus it does allow for hotspot use of the phone at 3G speeds.

Handset pricing

When the Trump T1 was originally revealed to be China's Revvl 7 Pro 5G, that was selling for under $250 instead of $499. Prices for all smartphones vary depending on contract and carrier, but typically the HTC U24 Pro costs around $450 to buy.

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

Trump Mobile has said that the T1 phone will cost more for new users. We've sent around some emails and made some calls this morning. One source familiar with the matter told us that the T1 after the batch being shipped soon to early depositors will sell for "at least $599."

The same source told us that this is a "bare-bones effort" to get something out the door to early adopters and Trump Mobile isn't making much on each phone, if anything at all. The same source also told us that "final assembly" is just putting on the back panel with the Trump branding and boxing.

So while a final figure has not yet been publicly announced, it's going to put the Trump T1 phone into the same $599 price range as the iPhone 17e, which is a better phone in every regard.

While Trump Mobile has been heavily criticized for the long delays to its shipping of the T1 handset, the company has been selling phones from practically the outset. It's just that those are what it calls "renewed" models from other firms.

So at present, it is selling a third-party refurbished iPhone 15 for $629 for 128GB storage, running iOS 18, where Apple sells that model new from $699 with iOS 26. Amazon is currently selling the same renewed configuration iPhone 15 for around $425

Similarly, Amazon US has the iPhone 14 renewed for around $305, where Trump Mobile is selling it for $489.

Both the 2022 iPhone 14 and the 2023 iPhone 15 are better and more performant phones for the end-user than the T1 is.