Trump Mobile has quietly raised the price of its first smartphone, the T1 Phone, from $499 to $749. The hardware has not changed. The Verge reports that every mention of the original promotional pricing has vanished from the company’s website.
For $749, buyers get a 6.78-inch AMOLED display running at 120Hz, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip, a 5,000mAh battery with 30W charging and a 50-megapixel camera. The casing has a gold finish. That is mid-range hardware carrying a flagship price tag.
Trump Mobile always described $499 as a starting price, and company executives hinted it would climb. The increase lands at an awkward moment for the industry, with a memory shortage pushing up prices across consumer electronics. Even so, $749 sets a modest handset directly against Google, Samsung and Apple.
The T1 Phone is not an original American design either. A teardown showed a great deal in common with the HTC U24 Pro. Enthusiasts were willing to overlook that at $499. At $749, it becomes a much harder sell.
