The Trump Mobile saga reveals how easy it is for companies to play fast and loose with patriotic branding, especially when outsourcing is the default. At Purism, we remain committed to verifiable U.S. manufacturing, ethical labor, and privacy-respecting software that’s truly independent from the surveillance giants of Big Tech.
Calm down, Purism 
The Librem 5 USA does not qualify for a “Made in the USA” label either. Don’t get me wrong, the soldering and assembly of the Librem 5 USA being done outside China is cool and a big advantage over other phones, but Purism also has walked the line of misleading consumers by heavily touting its “Made in the USA electronics” branding, which some might think is equivalent to an unqualified “Made in the USA” label. So, it is a bit ironic that Purism would be so holier-than-thou.
Purism also deceives users by claiming that its electronics are premium when they are NOT. Furthermore, Purism deceives users by claiming that PureOS is FSF when it is NOT either. Honestly, i am very disappointed with Purism.
I was also disappointed with Purism, as which printed the letters USA on the Librem 5, which is not good, at least for me and others users of course.
Purism is wrong way.
Correct, and it was not advertised as “Made in the USA.” If anything was officially posted by Purism in this way, it was a typo and should be updated.
This is correct, though, and is a significant differentiating factor with other manufacturers. Purism does things differently, so why not advertise that?
A binary label [edit for clarity: “Made in USA” or bust] is incredibly problematic, just as (IMO) FLOSS should not be considered binary but rather as a ladder to software freedom. You have to walk before you can run. It requires a significant amount of capital to produce a novel hardware product that impacts an entire blossoming market like mobile Linux, and Purism continues to progress toward sourcing additional components from US suppliers for the Liberty phone.
Also please note that there must be a distinction between “Made in USA” and “Made in USA Electronics” and customers tend not to read the fine print if everything were exhaustively spelled out. If they are actually interested, there is public documentation and blog posts on the subject.
Where? What do you mean specifically? Can you cite your source(s)?
It is understandable that the sourcing/labeling from the USA is not beneficial in everyone’s eyes, and Purism understands that as well. There will be additional configuration options and upgrade paths for various products in the future. Also note that Purism engages with partners in several countries, coordinating options for their own secure in-country manufacturing. Purism will always advocate for privacy, security, and freedom for all, regardless of geopolitical climate.
Every other mention throughout the product page is “Made in USA Electronics” otherwise, so one of the marketing phrases should be canonical.
I find the term “Made in USA Electronics” confusing. I take your point that most customers aren’t going to read the fine print, so there is no point defining what you mean in the fine print when you use the term in advertising, but maybe a link here to a blog post / other official Purism information that explains how you use the term (since the question has been raised here).
Exactly. When you consider all of the 1300-odd components that go into the Librem 5 USA, it is not 0 that are made in the US and it is not 1300 that are made in the US. It is a ladder to be climbed from whatever it is now to 1300.
(I didn’t just make up that number, 1300, but nor am I asserting it as fact. I borrowed it from a post by Amos Batto, who obviously knows lots.)
Of course none of this changes the fact that the Trump T1 phone has very quickly gone from “Made in the US” to quietly dropping the claim altogether. You wonder whether they ever intended to sell a phone that was made in the US and, regardless, how all that went down behind closed doors. Would like to have been a fly on the wall …
I agree, but what do you propose as a better, clearer term, that isn’t overly lengthy or overly technical?
Such a term is not immediately coming to my mind.
Okay, fair point. However, my point is more that Purism seems to intentionally de-emphasize the meaning of unqualified “Made in the USA” versus “Made in the USA electronics.” For example, in the article,
At Purism, we remain committed to verifiable U.S. manufacturing, ethical labor…
The casual reader might read this and think, “oh, Purism, must not work with China to make the Librem,” when, in fact, major components of the Librem 5 USA, including the chassis, are made in China. It would be appropriate to include a sentence something like, “The Librem 5 is domestically manufactured to a greater extent than any other commercially available smartphone, and even it does not yet qualify for the unqualified ‘Made in the USA’ label that Trump Mobile has claimed for its apparently Chinese phone.”
Well, so far, IMO, Puri works on the premise that if Puri can’t baffle consumers with it’s intelligence, then befuddle them with B.S. Nothing has changed accept how to get around the Not Made In The states.
~s
Gnu Pure OS contains many many software that provides/facilitate DRM and BLOBs for user. Like Linux, Firefox, PurismJails, Waydroid, More.
I don’t. It is up to Purism to consider the feedback, decide whether any action at all is warranted, and if they want to pursue it, that could be something that involves community consultation in this august forum, a poll, …
I could live with the term ‘as is’ if there were a link to explain what it means i.e. how the term is being used by Purism.
I guess from a security point of view, there is a difference between mechanical pieces like the resin board or the frame or even an antenna and critical components like CPU, memory, disk.
However security may not be the factor that is most important to any given customer.
Let’s not forget though that there is a reasonable likelihood that the Trump T1 phone will end being “0% Made in the USA” / “100% Made in China” … so any percentage Made in the USA is an improvement on that - for those for whom this is a major consideration. (I personally think that “less Made in China” is more important than “more Made in the USA”.)
Very well said.
