The Trump T1 smartphone turned out to be a copy of an HTC model: blogger Zach Nelson revealed the details

Well-known tech blogger Zach Nelson, creator of the YouTube channel JerryRigEverything, took apart the Trump T1 smartphone, which is marketed as an American product. Inside the device, he discovered a design virtually identical to that of the Taiwanese HTC U24 Pro, which is manufactured in China. An experiment swapping the motherboards confirmed that both smartphones can function with each other’s components.

In the summer of 2026, experts at iFixit had already taken apart the Trump Mobile T1 and concluded that the device was not an original American design but in fact replicated the design of the HTC U24 Pro. These findings have now been confirmed by Zach Nelson.

According to him, the Trump T1 is virtually identical to the Taiwanese HTC U24 Pro smartphone, which is manufactured in China. The devices have the same dimensions, a 120 Hz refresh rate display, 50- and 8-megapixel cameras, as well as headphone jacks and memory card slots.

The external differences turned out to be minimal. Specifically, the Trump T1 has a yellow back panel, and the flash on the body has been shifted by approximately 1.3 centimeters.

The internal design of the devices raised the most questions. After taking them apart, Nelson discovered identical motherboards, the same screw placement, and matching model numbers.

To test just how similar the smartphones are, the blogger swapped the motherboards between the Trump T1 and the HTC U24 Pro.

After swapping the components, both devices powered on and functioned without any issues. This result indicates a significant structural similarity between the smartphones.

Nelson sharply criticized claims that the Trump T1 is made in the U.S.

“Claims that the device is made in America are an insult to those of us who actually manufacture things here,” commented Zach Nelson, the creator of the YouTube channel JerryRigEverything.

Another detail the blogger pointed out was the U.S. flag on the smartphone’s back cover. According to him, the image shows only 11 stripes instead of the 13 found on the original U.S. flag.

During the teardown, Nelson also found no evidence that American engineers were involved in the device’s design or assembly.

“The motherboards are interchangeable, and the President of the United States is lying,” Nelson concluded.

To conduct the experiment, the blogger borrowed a smartphone from a colleague to test the durability of the case and its water resistance.

The components inside the device indicated high-quality assembly; however, the teardown revealed that the smartphone itself was a rebranded version of the HTC U24 Pro.

Despite advertising claims of American design and manufacturing, the teardown results indicate that the Trump T1 has a design virtually identical to that of the HTC smartphone, which is manufactured in China. At the same time, the mere fact of structural similarity does not allow for a definitive determination of the origin of each component or the device’s complete production chain.

A tablet can serve as a work screen while traveling, an electronic notebook for studying, or a device for watching movies. Therefore, before buying, you should not look for a model with the highest specs, but rather determine the tasks for which it will be used most often. 

Global smartphone shipments in the third quarter fell by 20% compared to the same period last year and reached their lowest level for this period since 2012, according to preliminary estimates by Counterpoint Research.