I see that Purism is now in competition with President Trump, with his gold-hued (one day will be) Made in the USA “T1 Phone” - and a mobile service to go with it.
Strangely, in the Australian media coverage of that story, it mentioned Purism and it quoted Todd Weaver describing the Trump Phone as “classic vapourware” while in the e.g. CNN coverage of that story, no comment about or from Purism that I saw.
I guess kudos to Trump for putting his money where his mouth is - if he ever actually produces a phone in the USA.
PS If anyone wants to go on a more general anti-Trump rant, please continue in Round Table.
I’m not sure but Todd might have said something along those lines at some point in this interview:
It is also hard to collect a tariff if it never arrives through a port. You don’t need some yahoo to tell you that.
I see what you did there . . .
But that was April 10. Had the Trump Phone even been announced more than two months ago?
(I would listen to the interview myself to check but it doesn’t play at all with my settings / in my environment.)
Probably it was something else, some other phone project that was mentioned. I don’t remember.
Edit: Ignore this post, I was wrong (see my next post).
“The Librem 5 is probably not real” (news already seen by 421k people). Edit: Probably someone should write a comment that he is wrong, but also that it is a special device (otherwise they think it’s another Android device). I have no account, I cannot comment.
My goodness the internet is full of ∎∎∎∎.
Maybe Purism would like to follow up with the site. @JCS ?
Edit: Never mind. This post can be ignored. It was a misunderstanding.
Of course it is. I just see it as an opportunity to spread the vision about Linux pocket computers.
I watched through the video and heard at 1:15: “None of this matters, though, because it’s probably not real.” Riley had already alluded to the Liberty and Librem 5 and was referring to the T1 Mobile at this point, though. Did I miss something?
Here are a few additional resources:
Purism:
- Liberty Phone product page – contains a country of origin table near the bottom of the page
- Manufacturing and Sourcing
Bloomberg:
- Trump mobile: President’s company launches US$499 smartphone
- US-Made Smartphones Cheaper Than Some Claim – features an interview with Purism CEO
CNBC:
- Coming soon
Engadget:
- Coming soon
NBC:
- Trump Organization Announces a $499 Smartphone Built in the US – features an interview with Purism CEO on the topic
Reuters:
WSJ:
- Purism CEO interview coming soon
Yahoo! Finance:
- Purism CEO interview coming soon
Oh you’re right, my bad. He moved from the Purism shop page to the T1 specs and not to the L5 specs. I guess at the important second I was not focused on video. Sorry for that.
… which raises the question as to whether the T1 Phone is or is not real.
Their web site is quite upfront that you are pre-ordering and that it is not available right now. Nothing wrong with that per se.
The Trump-sons may have made noises about the T1 Phone being “Made in America”. However the web site does not appear to make any such claims.
Some commentators are therefore suggesting that the first batch will be “Made in China” and maybe just maybe, X years down the track, a future batch will be made in the US … if the product demand is sustained and if their attention span is long enough. A healthy dose of scepticism is therefore justified.
Whether the Trump Mobile service is real is a separate question. Indications are that you can order it and get it today but obviously I’m not in a position to test that. Would be fun to see whether the Librem 5 works on the Trump Mobile service, since Trump Mobile claims that you can Bring Your Own Device and that the service is nationwide i.e. they could easily have the same problems with fascist mobile network operators that Purism does.
Their website IMEI checker says that it works but 
Right. I should have said the web page. If you click to “Pre-order Now!” neither the claim that it is “Made in the USA” nor the claim that it will be “available in September 2025” appears. So if you went directly to the ordering / device page, because you wanted the phone but not the service, then you would not see either of those claims.
The FAQ basically seems to ignore the phone completely (and is very limited anyway).
Here’s some “industry” commentary on the Trump mobile service (EDIT: and the possible designers of the phone): Trump Family Launches Trump Mobile: 20GB 5G Plan for $47.45/Month
Editor’s Take
This is one expensive phone plan, particularly with the insane amount they are charging for taxes and fees. The taxes and fees in my area when I went through a simulated checkout process totaled an additional $15.62/month. This increased the total price of the bill for me to $63.07/month. I’ve never seen taxes that high on a $47 phone plan before.
OMG, I feel like I’m in the sequel to Goundhog Day, except I have to relive April Fool’s over and over . . . or maybe it’s The Onion: The Motion Picture.