US media reveals the 1999 US dollar “Made in the United States” mobile phone: configuration lags behind ten years, half of the customers are government – Passionategeekz

On June 22, Beijing time, Trump has been pressuring Apple to make in the United States iPhoneand launched its own Trump Mobile and Turkish Golden Smartphonebut what level of mobile phones are actually produced in the United States?

The Wall Street Journal published an article sayingThe United States can indeed make smartphones, but such phones won’t be as stylish, refined or powerful as iPhones, and they’ll be much more expensive.

The Liberty phone developed by American technology company Purism is the closest product to achieving its U.S. manufacturing goal. However, its configuration might have been pretty good ten years ago, but it is now outdated and costs as much as $1999 (about RMB 14,000).

However, Liberty phones offer a unique perspective that allows the outside world to see the reality of local manufacturing in the United States and why other companies are reluctant to make phones in the United States.

Very low cost performance

The motherboard of the Liberty phone is made by Purism, the chip is from Texas, and the whole unit is assembled at Purism’s factory in Carlsbad, California. But its components are not all from the United States, some from China and other Asian countries.

“I’ve been doing this for ten years, and we’ve tried everything we can to start with manufacturing in the United States. But some parts have not yet established a supply chain. We will continue to improve bit by bit until we really do manufacturing in the United States,” said Todd Weaver, founder of Purism.

Weaver said he can produce about 10,000 Liberty phones a month, but total sales so far are less than 100,000. By comparison, according to market analysis company Canalys, Apple shipped about 225 million iPhones in 2024.

Additionally, the Liberty phone does not work Android Or iOS system, but an independent development operating system based on Linux PureOS. The processor it uses was made in Austin, Texas by Dutch semiconductor company NXP and was originally designed for cars, not for smartphones. This phone only supports basic application functions such as calling, SMS, web browsing and calculator.

Its screen and battery come from China, while the rear camera comes from South Korea. Weaver said making phones entirely in the United States is restricted by the lack of local infrastructure. For example, no company in the United States can produce smartphone screens on a large scale.

Low-end mobile phones are “difficult”

Companies with small production scales like Purism have encountered such complexities, which help explain why big players such as Apple have not seriously tried to produce high-end smartphones in the United States.

“Even a less advanced phone, it will take many years to make full purchases in the U.S. and it’s not realistic,” said Jeff Fieldhack, research director at Counterpoint Research, a market research firm. “Cost aside, we don’t have factory-made application processors, high-end displays or most other components in smartphones.”

Weaver said it would cost about $650 to build a Liberty phone. According to the estimates of research company TechInsights, the performance is more powerful iPhone 16 Pro Max The cost of manufacturing in China last fall was about $550.

Purism produces mobile phones in the United States with higher labor costs, but this disadvantage is partially offset by cheaper, lower-quality components, such as ordinary cameras, low-resolution screens, and halved memory. Weaver said the Liberty phone is not currently built to compete with the iPhone. He noted that the retail price of $1,999 reflects the value of the phone’s “security in procurement sources and verifiable supply chains.” He also added that about half of Purism’s clients are U.S. government agencies.

“For the consumer group, our users are mainly safety geeks, parents who want to buy mobile phones for their children, older people, or those who want to avoid large tech companies. People who need super strong cameras are not our target customers,” Weaver said.

Weaver estimates that he can increase production to 100,000 mobile phones per month within six months, but to achieve this, investments will be needed to buy new equipment, increase production line operators, and expand plant space. He currently does not accept traditional venture capital and relies entirely on revenue and crowdfunding funds to operate.

No motivation for enterprises

As far as current output is concerned, the tariffs are likely not to affect his costs, as he has purchased a large number of parts from the beginning and is currently in stock in the factory. Weaver said that if the U.S. imposes tariffs on imported electronic products for a long time, it may instead make the manufacturing cost of Liberty phones more competitive, as the cost growth of those cheap parts is limited, and more parts may be produced locally in the United States in the future.

Although companies like Intel already make chips in the United States, and companies such as TSMC and Micron are also building local factories, Counterpoint research director Field Hack pointed out that these U.S. production capacity still accounts for only a small part of global production capacity. Businesses lack the motivation to transfer more production to the United States.

“Many of these technologies are not leading the way, the cost is still high, and it will take a long time to achieve.”Field Hack said.

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