We take a look at the Trump branded phone and some of its features
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What is the Trump‑branded phone and why is it being discussed today?
Time now for our daily tech and business report. A Trump branded mobile phone, first revealed a year ago, touts itself as proudly American, top tier smartphone, but its reality it looks a little different from its original pitch. For more, we turn now to the K C B S Ring Central Newsline to speak with Bloomberg's Chris Welch. Thank you so much for being with us this afternoon.
Yes, yes yes, yes. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Well I have to admit I missed this the first time around. Um tell us what you can about the Trump phone.
How does the Trump phone’s design and features differ from the original pitch?
Uh yeah, so about a year ago, uh the small company called uh Trump Mobile just came out with this phone. It is gold. costs $4.99. Back then they said it would be made here in the US, which is kind of impossible given like today's manufacturing scene. And so fast forward to now and the phone looks a bit different now than it did then, but it's like a gold Android phone. And it's got a big screen. There are nice aspects to it, but it's certainly not made in the US for one.
Okay. So what's different from its initial design?
What are the key hardware specs and performance points of the Trump phone?
So at first it had like an iPhone kind of style to it. Uh now it's more of like an Android, but it's got a huge American flag on the back as you'd expect. Uh it's gold, it's kind of gaudy. Uh but there's some aspects like I said, like the screen is very nice, it's big, uh, the camera's okay. Uh the processors look fast enough for you know most things you would do on a phone today. But still, there are better phone choices pretty much anywhere you look, from Google, uh, you know, Samsung, Apple. So even for like, you know, the most hard to core Trump fans, this phone is not a great investment.
I wanna ask you about that company.
Who is behind Trump Mobile and what is known about the company?
What is Trump Mobile?
So it's a small carrier. There's not too much information about it. It's it seems like there aren't too many people who actually work there. We've tried to find, you know, some employees. We found one or two on LinkedIn. But I mean the service works. It runs on via T-Mobile network. So it's got, you know, fairly decent coverage and speeds and data speeds.
How reliable is the phone’s service and long‑term software support?
But there's no telling like how long this phone will be supported. There's like too many unknowns about, you know, like long-term software support and that kind of thing to really buy into this idea.
Yeah. Um I I I'm just curious, i how closely is this phone and its service tied to the president or are they just trading off of his name?
They're just trading off of his name as usual. I mean the sons were there, uh but as far as like the actual company, it's totally separate from the Trump organization so there's no affiliation.
Um and then just just finally, uh before I let you go, uh so who's the target market? Is this for MAGA fans?
It's for MAGA fans, but even they should really, really consider phones from Google and Apple and Samsung that cost about the same but are going to be supported for many, many more years to come.
Who is the target market for the Trump phone and is it a worthwhile purchase?
This is, you know, it's more of like a novelty statement piece than an actual phone that anyone should buy. So I'm not sure, you know, who will actually end up buying it. Uh, but I would steer even like the most, you know, diehard MACA people toward other options on the market.
Thank you so much, Jeff, for breaking it down for us. We appreciate you. That is Bloomberg's Chris Welch. And you can hear our tech and business report weekdays at twelve thirty on KCBS. And for more, you can tune in to Bloomberg Technology weekdays at eight AM.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the Trump‑branded phone and why is it being discussed today?
0:00–0:29
2
How does the Trump phone’s design and features differ from the original pitch?
0:29–0:59
3
What are the key hardware specs and performance points of the Trump phone?
0:59–1:29
4
Who is behind Trump Mobile and what is known about the company?
1:29–1:46
5
How reliable is the phone’s service and long‑term software support?
1:46–2:27
6
Who is the target market for the Trump phone and is it a worthwhile purchase?
2:27–2:53
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from KCBS Bloomberg Tech and Business Report
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