Popular tech YouTuber Zack Nelson, better known as JerryRigEverything online, went off on Donald Trump in a harsh review of the Trump-branded phone, claiming it’s just a reskin of another device and not made in the U.S.
“There’s nothing wrong with being made in China,” Nelson said in a nine-and-a-half-minute-long review posted Wednesday. “You just can’t claim it’s made in the USA when it obviously isn’t. And maybe I do have TDS, Trump disappointment syndrome.”
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The mobile device sold as T1 was originally marketed as “proudly designed and built in the United States,” according to a press release from Trump Mobile in June 2025. That claim, however, went out the window just weeks later, when the website language was changed.
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In this photo illustration, an iPhone displays the website for Trump Mobile and a Trump-branded smartphone. Joe Raedle via Getty Images
The Trump Mobile site now states the device is “designed with American values in mind” and “shaped by American innovation. With American teams helping guide design and quality.”
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Don Hendrickson, one of the founders of Trump Mobile, told The Verge the company only ever said it was a “goal” to be made in America. Trump Mobile is not directly part of the Trump Organization, which is run by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. and owned by the president through a trust, but instead licenses the Trump name.
The Trump Organization and White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost for comment.
When the T1 eventually shipped in May following months of delays, tech experts were increasingly critical of the phone. CNET managing editor Patrick Holland described its design as sometimes looking “like a urine sample.”
Nelson echoed other tech experts’ speculations, noting that the T1 shared similarities with another phone and telling viewers: “If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably just a spray-painted gold HTC U24 Pro.”
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Watch the full durability test here.
A spokesperson for HTC previously told The Verge the company “does not design or manufacture phones for third parties.”
“We’ll see if the Trump T1 smartphone is an actual investment in American manufacturing, American values, and a benefit to American society, or if it’s just a quick cash grab to increase his personal wealth while riding the coattails of a previously prestigious position, while simultaneously grasping at all remaining straws to remain relevant in his final days in office,” Nelson opened his review.
The tech expert would go on to make several more jabs at Trump, referencing controversies such as his name being mentioned in the infamous Epstein files, the war in Iran and how much money he has made since taking office.
Nelson called the device “just a rebranded Chinese HTC U24 Pro,” showing viewers “that both phones turn on and are completely functional with swapped motherboards. Caught red-handed, hook, line, and sinker.”
“Everything is so dumb. Calling this phone American-made is such an easy-to-disprove, low-hanging, effortless lie and such a blatant cash grab,” Nelson said. “He legitimately thinks we are all super stupid, and yet maybe we are.”
The president himself has not commented on the Trump Mobile phone.
Nelson warned viewers: “Anything with the Trump logo on it can pretty much be considered a janky, impecunious cash grab for a petty, orange, morally insolvent billionaire and his kids who can’t stop themselves from grifting.”
