The Trump phone sure looks a lot like this HTC handset

A agelong clip ago, backmost erstwhile the Trump telephone was but a single, inaccurate render and a contradictory spec sheet, we tried to fig retired what different telephone it mightiness beryllium based on. Now, 8 months, 2 spec overhauls, and 1 redesign later, I person a bully guess: the HTC U24 Pro.

I didn’t spot this by myself. A scholar first tipped maine off to the similarities betwixt the U24 Pro and the Trump telephone I revealed a fewer weeks ago, which are numerous: a akin angled assemblage and curved display, a unsocial beforehand sensor array, and broadly akin specs, including oddities for illustration a headphone jack and microSD paper support.

Let’s get 1 point retired the measurement astatine the top: I’m beautiful judge HTC isn’t secretly building the Trump phone. Sohaib Ahmed, the company’s world head of PR, told maine arsenic much: “HTC does not creation aliases manufacture phones for 3rd parties.” But that doesn’t norm retired different institution playing a portion successful designing aliases building some phones, and fixed conscionable really akin they look, I fishy that’s precisely what happened.

The U24 Pro is an overseas telephone successful its ain right. It launched successful 2024 for €549 (around $600 astatine the time), and was heralded successful immoderate corners arsenic a return from the dormant for HTC, contempt the truth that it followed the U23 Pro a twelvemonth earlier, and a drawstring of smaller releases that targeted the Asian market. HTC, erstwhile 1 of the awesome players successful the Android telephone industry, had been greatly diminished ever since selling a ample portion of its smartphone business to Google for $1.1 cardinal successful 2017.

Both the T1 Phone and the U24 Pro stock a somewhat asymmetric angular frame, jutting retired into a constituent on each edge, pinch a heavy curved surface connected the front. I cannot deliberation of, nor find, different telephone that is rather the aforesaid style — moreover mini specifications for illustration the positions of the antenna lines astir the powerfulness and measurement buttons statement up. Even much telling is the group of sensors on each phone’s top. The U24 Pro splits up its speaker grill, notification LED, and proximity sensor into three, resulting successful an different creation pinch a agelong bar, a mini dot for the LED, and past a 2nd shorter bar, astatine the constituent wherever the show meets the phone’s top. What looks for illustration the aforesaid sensor creation tin beryllium intelligibly seen connected the Trump telephone I was shown, though I can’t corroborate that the sensors themselves are the same, aliases that the T1 Phone will besides person a notification LED.

Other specifications are subtler. It’s difficult to show precisely from the glimpses I sewage of the Trump phone, but on the apical framework it surely looks to person some a headphone jack and a microphone successful the nonstop aforesaid positions arsenic connected the HTC device. Even having a headphone jack successful the first spot is grounds of the phones’ connection, fixed really uncommon the characteristic is successful modern devices. The aforesaid tin beryllium said for the truth that some phones see a microSD paper slot, sharing support for up to 1TB cards connected apical of a guidelines 512GB of storage.

While the rear cameras look wholly different, which seems to scupper my theory, look again: The U24 Pro’s cameras are divided into a brace adjacent together, pinch a 3rd lens little down. The caller Trump telephone sets each its cameras successful 1 mount, but they’re unevenly spaced, pinch a larger spread betwixt the 2nd and 3rd lenses. These cameras whitethorn look wholly different connected the surface, but I fishy that underneath you’ll find they’re similar. And what we cognize of the specs matches too: Trump Mobile told maine that its telephone will person 50-megapixel sensors for some the main and selfie cameras, and my glimpse of its camera UI showed an ultrawide and a 2x zoom action — each of which you’ll find connected the U24 Pro.

Assuming that the 2 phones are fundamentally the same, does the U24 Pro show america immoderate much astir what to expect from the T1? It’s powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, matching what I’d been told astir a Snapdragon 7-series spot successful the Trump phone. The U24 Pro has a 6.8-inch OLED display, 60W wired charging and moreover wireless charging support, and an IP67 standing for particulate and h2o protection. There’s logic to beryllium cautious reference excessively overmuch into the spec sheet, though: The U24 Pro released pinch a 4,600mAh battery, smaller than the 5,000mAh capacity I’ve been told will beryllium successful the Trump phone. If that spec differs, past different elements of the internals could good excessively — the bigger artillery successful peculiar mightiness switch the wireless charging coils of the HTC phone.

The U24 Pro launched to middling reviews, which whitethorn not animate overmuch assurance successful Trump Mobile’s offering. Tech Advisor gave the telephone 2 and a half stars retired of five, calling it “hard to urge complete rivals,” while Notebookcheck declared it “modern and yet retired of date.” Still, it fared amazingly good successful a JerryRigEverything teardown and durability test.

He noticed, however, that this didn’t look to beryllium the HTC of old, lacking the sapphire crystal HTC antecedently utilized connected its displays and optical image stabilization connected the beforehand camera it erstwhile pioneered. The U24 Pro and different HTC phones released successful the past fewer years stock small accordant creation language, and vessel pinch near-stock Android software. Speculation has been rife that HTC isn’t successful truth manufacturing the phones internally, but had commissioned an ODM — original creation shaper — to nutrient the hardware. ODMs creation and manufacture phones for different companies, usually to a group of specifications provided by the consumer-facing brands, and often clasp ownership of the designs, allowing them to reuse and repurpose them for different clients. I asked HTC for clarification, but the institution wouldn’t corroborate whether the U24 Pro was made in-house aliases contracted out.

It’s surely imaginable that Trump Mobile, aliases its manufacturing partner, is simply ripping disconnected the creation of a little-known HTC device. But I deliberation the astir apt reply present is simply a much mundane one: HTC astir apt worked pinch immoderate unnamed ODM to creation and manufacture the U24 Pro, and Trump Mobile conscionable happened to activity pinch the aforesaid company. That shaper whitethorn person either dug retired its aged designs for HTC erstwhile processing the T1 Phone, aliases possibly gave caller life to old, unused components from HTC’s accumulation run. Without knowing the hypothetical ODM involved, it’s difficult to opportunity for sure. Trump Mobile has antecedently confirmed that it’s moving pinch a partner aliases partners to manufacture its phones extracurricular the US, earlier their “final assembly” successful Miami, but executive Don Hendrickson wouldn’t show maine the sanction of its shaper aliases wherever it’s based. I reached retired to the institution again for remark connected this story, and received nary reply.

So no, I don’t deliberation that HTC made the Trump phone. But it does look apt that it is based, much aliases less, connected 1 of that company’s phones. It remains to beryllium seen really the T1 Phone will disagree successful its details, but the truth that its origins look truthful intimately tied to an unpopular midranger from 2 years agone doesn’t precisely animate assurance successful the T1 Phone’s flagship credentials.

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