After getting our hands on the Trump phone and tearing it apart, iFixit has confirmed what I first reported in February: The T1 phone is an almost exact duplicate of the HTC U24 Pro.
iFixit partnered with NBC to obtain the network’s media samples of Trump phones with the U24 Pro. They ran the phones through a CT scanner, broke them into pieces, and even put them back together into a functional Frankenstein phone with the U24 Pro’s board inside the T1 phone’s chassis, confirming that the two phones are functionally identical.
There are minor differences: the flash has been moved slightly, the speaker grille has been changed, and the chipset package – while similar in specs – was supplied by Micron for the Trump phones and SK Hynix for HTC. The big change is in the battery: The Trump phone’s cell is slightly larger, and is made in the Philippines instead of China, though supports slower 30W charging.
We’ve long suspected that the T1 phone matches the U24 Pro, as both phones have a distinctive chassis design, almost identical features, and matching headphone jacks and microSD card slots. iFixit’s work here pretty much confirms it.
HTC had earlier told The Verge That said it “does not design or manufacture phones for third parties”, but would not confirm any details about the construction of the U24 Pro. Given that HTC sold most of its smartphone business to Google in 2017, it seems likely that it contracted a third-party company to design and manufacture the U24 Pro, and Trump Mobile turned to the same company for its T1 phone. And as I reported last week, the U24 Pro was made in China. Now place your bets on where Trump’s phone is made.
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