The Trump brand has just announced the launch of a smartphone. It is no iPhone killer, but it sure dazzles

By Low Teck Mee

Donald Trump is at it again: selling something. With global tensions, such as the Israel-Iran conflict, demanding serious attention, his family has chose, instead, to announced the launch of a smartphone that will be available for pre-order now. I saw the images of the phone, named T1 (T, for the obvious, and 1, for the self-evident) , and I confess, I was quite horrified. The thing is rendered in gold. While there is no inherent evil in being so jin (金), the login screen is awash in a patina of gold, reminiscent of the hue of the faucet, reportedly found attached to the sink of Mr Trump’s privet jet. I know how much the president loves the colour. So, it is a very deliberate design choice that aligns with a certain brand identity, but gaudy gold rather than the subtler champagne is extravagantly radiant so as to be tasteless.

And who are the geniuses behind this gilded marvel? According to a self-congratulatory press release from the Trump Organisation, the main men behind the T1 is the Trump boys Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. I have always suspected that those two possess a certain affinity for ostentation that typical Ah Bengs will wholeheartedly appreciate. And now that is proven to be even truer. Of course, launching a consumer product like this phone amid global tensions that call for exigent action is quite the Trump signature, and both the two brothers have gleefully used: prioritising personal branding and blatant commerce over pressing geopolitical concerns.

I have always suspected that those two possess a certain affinity for ostentation that typical Ah Bengs will wholeheartedly appreciate. And now that is proven to be even truer

The aureate excess in a smartphone aside, is the T1 any good, based on the specs, that compels such an urgent launch? It is priced at US$$499 (with a US$100 down payment required for pre-order), which awkardly positions it at the mid-to-lower end of the market. To be certain, I was confused with the specs listed on the website. Let’s look at the basics: the ludicrously claim that the phone comes with 12GB internal storage and 256GB RAM! I will assume it to be the other way round. Anyway, those numbers are nothing to scream with delight about for a smartphone at that price point launching in late 2025 (September). What is truly baffling is that a processor is glaringly not listed. Perhaps, the phone’s targeted buyers are assumed to be so uninterested in genuine performance metrics that such a crucial detail is deemed irrelevant? RAM and storage are only one part of the performance equation. The processor (chipset)—the brain of the phone, really—is arguably even more important for how smoothly a phone actually runs.

It looks to me that, as with much of what Trump does, the phone focuses on brand rather than substance. But with that comes an unavoidable, if brazen suspicion. The T1, as the Trump Organisation proudly declares, is “designed and built in the United States”. Now, I did not glean anything definitive from that—for good reason. Industry experts and analysts have unequivocally stated that it is virtually impossible to produce a modern smartphone entirely (or even mostly) in the U.S. at the US$499 price point. The intricate global supply chains for components, especially advanced semiconductors like processors, are overwhelmingly concentrated in Asia, particularly China and Taiwan. I vividly remember Tim Cook repeatedly saying about shifting iPhone production (and it could be about any smartphone) back to the U.S.: it isn’t about cheap labor, but about the unparalleled skill, scale, and infrastructure of the manufacturing ecosystem in Asia, particularly zhongguo (中国).

So the total omission of the origins of the T1’s processor appears to be a deliberate concealment of something. Had they used a top-tier U.S. or Taiwanese, such as Qualcomm’s or MediaTek’s latest offering, they would almost certainly highlight it, even brag about it. But they did not. So what does that tell us about this proudly “American-made” device, coloured to be the gold standard? Your guess is as good as mine, and likely involves a relabelled, foreign-produced phone. We were not just possibly duped; we were presented with another product that is a gilded illusion in the Trump brand’s impressive history of smoke and mirrors.

Product photos: Trump Organisation/Trump Mobile. Photo illustration: Just So