Credit: Getty Images | Joe Raedle

The Trump phone was announced last week with a claim that the device would be made entirely in America, and people were rightly skeptical. Trump Mobile's $500 T1 Phone "is a sleek, gold smartphone engineered for performance and proudly designed and built in the United States for customers who expect the best from their mobile carrier," the Trump Organization said in a press release.

But with electronics supply chain experts casting doubt on the feasibility of designing and building an American-made phone in a short span of time, Trump Mobile's website doesn't currently promise an American-made phone. The website says the T1 is "designed with American values in mind," that it is "brought to life right here in the USA," and that there are "American hands behind every device."

The Trump Mobile website previously said, "Our MADE IN THE USA 'T1 Phone' is available for pre-order now." The phone was initially supposed to be available in August, but the date was changed to September, and now the website simply says it will be available "later this year."

The Verge pointed out the website's vague claims in an article today. "One of the phone's main selling points was that it was to be made in America," but "sometime in the last several days, the Trump Mobile site appears to have been scrubbed of all language indicating the phone is to be made in the USA," the article said, adding that the website previously had a "huge banner on the homepage that says the T1 is 'MADE IN THE USA.'"

When contacted by Ars today, a Trump Mobile spokesperson said, "The T1 phones are proudly being made in America. Speculation to the contrary is simply inaccurate. We're excited to launch the phones later this year." Trump Mobile did not explain why it removed the "made in the USA" claim from its website. We also contacted the Trump organization and will update this article if we get a response.

Phone model unclear as listed specs change

Some experts have said the Trump phone appears to be a re-skinned version of the REVVL 7 Pro 5G, made by Chinese company Wingtech. The REVVL 7 Pro 5G is sold by T-Mobile for $250, half the price of the Trump phone.

But it's unclear which phone is being sold by Trump Mobile. The company originally advertised a 6.78-inch display, which would match the one on the REVVL 7 Pro 5G device, but the Trump Mobile website now lists the screen size as 6.25 inches.

Trump Mobile service can also be used on non-Trump phones, but the sign-up and activation process looks to be a bit dodgy. The Trump Organization partnered with a small Florida company to create Trump Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator that resells network capacity from major carriers. The Trump Mobile website says its "products and services are not designed, developed, manufactured, distributed or sold by The Trump Organization," and that the Trump name is used "pursuant to the terms of a limited license agreement."

President Trump has used tariffs to pressure Apple into making phones in the US, a tall task given the realities of the global supply chain used to manufacture electronic devices. Despite the Trump Organization's initial claim that it, unlike Apple, had built a phone domestically, Eric Trump indicated in an interview last week that building the Trump phone in America is a goal and not the present reality.

"Eventually all the phones can be built in the United States of America," Eric Trump said.