In a truly unprecedented move, Donald Trump wants to sell you a smartphone. He is the first US President to offer a branded smartphone. Or any branded product.
For $500 (R9,000), you can own a Trump-branded gold device that will charge you $47.45 (about R855/m) a month to sing the praises of the 45th and 47th US president, geddit?
Turns out patriotism is a gold mine. Who knew?
The phone service will be called Trump Mobile, and its T1 smartphone is gold, or should we say gold-coloured. Very gold coloured. It’s a colour that Trump clearly loves, as he has decorated the White House with a lot of it.
The Trump Mobile website – no, we’re not linking to it – proudly proclaims its “customer service call centre [is] based in the USA”. The 47 Plan offers unlimited calls, texts and data; and has no contract and no credit check. It claims to have the “same coverage as the 3 nationwide phone service carriers”.
It does not say if the T1 device is made in America, even if it has an American flag etched into the casing.
Will the T1 Phone trump expectations?
Its key features read like any mid to high-end smartphone. The T1 Phone 8002 (gold version) has a 6.78in 120Hz punch hole AMOLED screen, a 50MP main camera plus two 2MP depth and macro lenses, a 16MP selfie camera, a 5,000mAh battery and a “fingerprint sensor and AI Face Unlock”. It also runs Android 15.
But it isn’t available yet. You can pre-order the phone with a $100 down payment.
If you want to use your phone, Trump Mobile will send you a SIM card.
US news sites said the 47 Plan was higher than similar unlimited packages, for $25 and $30. But, if you wanted to know if you were dealing directly with the US president, there is a note on the website that: “Trump Mobile, its products and services are not designed, developed, manufactured, distributed or sold by The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals”.
The only question that people want to know the answer to is…. Where are the phones made?
