Dial 'T1' for Triumph
David Pierce
Look, the design of this phone is amazing. It's perfect. No notes. Is it real? These are details that simply do not matter. When you're gifted the vision of a phone that looks to be a wood grain painted yellow but called "gold", you say "yes". Is the 'T' meant to evoke the T-Mobile 'T', which happens to be a carrier partner for the Trump Mobile MVNO? Is the finger-print sensor designed in the style of a cookie? Is the whole thing just a bit off-center? Again, it's all just "yes" and also "please".
Still, if you're the type of stickler who wants some details, fine:
Here is a roughly complete list of all the things we know for sure about the first phone made for the new Trump Mobile wireless provider: it’s called the T1 Phone 8002 (gold version). It costs $499, and you can reserve one now with a $100 down payment. It is, according to the website, coming in September.
That’s about all I feel confident saying. Beyond that, all we have is a website that was clearly put together quickly and somewhat sloppily, a promise that the phone is “designed and built in the USA” that I absolutely do not believe, a picture that appears to be nearly 100 percent Photoshopped, and a list of specs that don’t make a lot of sense together. The existence of a “gold version” of the phone implies a not-gold version, but the Trump Mobile website doesn’t say anything more about that.
All I know is that there damn well better only be a gold version. You want a silver medal? Get an iPhone. Loser.
• 6.78-inch AMOLED display, with a punch hole for the camera
• 120Hz refresh rate
• Three cameras on the back, including a 50MP camera, a 2MP depth sensor, and a 2MP macro lens
• 16MP selfie camera
• a 5,000mAh battery (the Trump Mobile website actually says “5000mAh long life camera,” so I’m just assuming here)
• 256GB of storage
• 12GB of RAM (the site also calls this “storage,” which, sure)
• Fingerprint sensor in the screen and face unlock
• USB-C
• Headphone jack
• Android 15
Speaking of, does your iPhone have a "5000mAh long life camera". No it does not. I can confidently say that because no phone has that. Because that doesn't make any sense. Or it didn't until this phone came along. Now it makes all the sense in the world. Does your iPhone feature 12GB of RAM storage? This phone is breaking new ground.
And also old ground. My god, it even has a headphone jack. "Courageously" killed off by Apple, but even more courageously brought back from the dead here. Pierce is full of jokes here, but The Verge is 100% giving this phone a 10/10.
That is, if they can review the device. Which they won't be able to because they'll be blinded by the brilliance of the sun reflecting off the golden American flag. They're worried about the lack of a processor listed in the specs, I think the '1' in the logo on the back may feature polka dots. Process that.
Frankly, it’s the whole “made in the USA” bit that is the most unlikely thing about the T1. Trump certainly believes that iPhones, as well as other smartphones, could be made in the US, but as Apple CEO Tim Cook and many others have said, there’s virtually no evidence that’s the case. Even smartphone makers based in the US, even the ones making cheaper smartphones, aren’t making their phones in America.
What if 'the USA' isn't a place but a state of mind? Did you consider that? Can you be working in a plant in Asia and still be in that USA state of mind? You bet your ass you can. And so you tell me where this phone is made.
