Trump T1 smartphone re-emerges with new specs and higher price

President Donald Trump’s signature smartphone has made its grand(-ish) re-entrance, this time with new specs and a bigger price tag.

In a new interview with The Verge, Trump Mobile executives Don Hendrickson and Eric Thomas revealed new information about the device for the first time since last year. In the interview, Hendrickson and Thomas revealed that the phone’s display will be about 6.8 inches in size with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 series chipset, 512GB of built-in storage (with expandable storage via SD cards), and a 5,000mAh battery. They also claimed the selfie camera and main rear shooter are both 50MP lenses, and The Verge speculated that it might also have an ultra-wide and telephoto lens on the back.

There’s some good and bad news for anyone eager to get a T1 in their hands in the near future. The good news is that Hendrickson and Thomas claim it could start shipping to early buyers by springtime. The bad news is that the $499 listed price for the device is apparently only for early adopters, and later buyers will have to pay an undetermined higher price. Plus, despite early marketing claiming otherwise, the two executives confirmed in this interview that the phone will not be manufactured in the United States after all.

It should be noted that all of these details should be taken with some degree of skepticism, given historical precedent. The T1 was supposed to launch six months ago but has been largely radio silent since then, presumably because the phone shown to The Verge doesn’t look anything like the one advertised on its website last year. Its design, specs, and price have all changed since its original launch date.

At any rate, we should get a better idea of whether or not any of the above is actually true in the next month or two.