Trump Mobile Plans To Launch $499 'T-1 Phone' Made In The USA— But Expert Says 'You Don't Have The Employees That Can Do It'

The Trump Organization is entering the wireless industry with plans to launch a smartphone called the "T-1 Phone," priced at $499 and promoted as being manufactured in the U.S.—a promise experts say may not hold up under scrutiny.

What Happened: Announced on Monday, the T-1 Phone will debut alongside a new wireless service called Trump Mobile, with availability starting in August.

A spokesperson for the company said that the devices will be made in Alabama, California and Florida, reported Marketplace.

Industry analysts remain skeptical. Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics, said no major smartphone manufacturer has built devices in the U.S. for at least a decade.

“We have made smartphones when we were still in the 2G and maybe in the 3G era,” he told the publication, adding, “You don’t have the machines. You don’t have the employees that can do it. You don’t have the supply chain.”

“I think Trump’s trying to seize the momentum of ‘Build in the U.S.,'” Dan Ives, tech analyst at Wedbush Securities, told the outlet.

He continued saying, “This is something that could be done at a very, very small scale, and that’s probably what they’re aiming for. But anything above 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 would be very, very difficult for them to actually make in the U.S.”

Why It's Important: The Trump Organization is attempting to tap into populist sentiments around domestic manufacturing, branding the T-1 Phone as a pro-America alternative in a global tech market dominated by Asian production.

While the pitch aligns with "Made in America" rhetoric, experts caution that scaling U.S. smartphone production would require massive infrastructure investment and time.

"For it to even get off the ground would take a long time and a significant amount of dollars to put in before they show any sort of profit," Ives said.

Previously, Ives told ABC News that making phones in the U.S. isn't financially viable, calling the idea a “fairytale” and noting that while a small number could be made, it would likely lead to losses.

Trump Mobile runs on the infrastructure of Liberty Mobile Wireless, a Florida-based company founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Matthew Lopatin.

As a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), it leases network access from major providers like T-Mobile U.S. Inc. TMUS and rebrands the service under its own name, reported Reuters.

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