Trump T1 Phone meets Jerry Rig Everything's Zack Nelson and several truths are revealed

When developing a new smartphone, the specs are usually decided in advance. The supply chain is scoured to see if the manufacturer can obtain enough processors, displays, batteries, and other components.

Once it appears that the phone can be built, some information about the new phone's specs is leaked in advance. The final version of the phone typically doesn't stray far from the leaked numbers.

However, there was one smartphone released this year that went through the usual process backward, forcing the company to back away from several initial claims, including one that stated the phone would be built in the US.

Don Jr. and Eric got boxed in by revealing specs of the T1 first

Of course, I am talking about the Trump T1 Phone, introduced by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump in June 2025. The Trump brothers made the mistake of releasing some of the specs in advance and most importantly, they tried to sell the device in advance to their dad's political base by claiming the phone would be built in the US.

This was the first mistake made by Don Jr. and Eric because, as soon as those words were committed to print, out came the analysts to say that a US supply chain could not accommodate the manufacturing of a flagship phone, especially the production of the application processor and the display panels.

Stating that the phone would be built in the US made things difficult for the brothers

Since they weren't really building a new phone from scratch, the Trump boys were forced to find a phone that they could obtain and rebrand, and one that matched up to the pre-announced specs as closely as possible.

Unfortunately for Trump Mobile, the first pre-announced spec to go was the "Made in the USA" label as the phone being rebranded as the Trump T1 Phone was the HTC U24 Pro, a 2024 mid-ranger powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset. The use of a mid-range SoC also revealed that the Trump T1 Phone was not a true flagship model.

The Trump T1 Phone is indeed a tough and strong device that couldn't be bent

We learned several things about the Trump T1 Phone when the device was torn down by Zack Nelson in his latest JerryRigEverything video. Surprisingly, the Trump T1 Phone didn't bend or snap in half despite Nelson's typically fevered attempts.

And there was no surprise when Nelson opened up the device since the placement of every screw and the battery, and the model numbers printed on the motherboard of the Trump T1 Phone matched what was inside the HTC U24 Pro. Speaking of which, Nelson even swapped the motherboard of the T1 and the U24 Pro, and when he booted up the phones, both worked perfectly. The dimensions of both phone models are the same; both offer headphone jacks and feature the same placements for buttons.

The Trump brothers smartly figured that those buying the T1 were not your typical smartphone buyers who want the latest specs. It's more likely that the Trump T1 Phone owner is a huge Donald Trump supporter and wouldn't care if the phone they are buying uses parts from 2024 as long as it has the Trump name on the back.

There are a few changes between the Trump T1 Phone and the HTC U24 Pro, such as the plastic gold back used with the former model and the different housing for each phone's rear cameras.

The battery powering the T1 weighs in at 5,000 mAh compared to the HTC U24 Pro's 4,600 mAh capacity. On the other hand, the HTC phone, at 60W, charges twice as fast as the Trump T1 Phone.

Because of the T1's price, only Trump fanatics should choose it over the HTC U24 Pro

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