5 Android phones you should buy instead of Trump’s T1 Phone

There’s a new Android phone on the block, and it’s an … interesting one. On June 16, the Trump Organization announced the T1 Phone. It’s an Android phone part of the new Trump Mobile brand, described as a “sleek, gold smartphone engineered for performance and proudly designed and built in the United States.”

In reality, the T1 Phone looks like a bit of a mess. Beyond the gaudy brushed gold design, the specs aren’t anything to write home about. There’s a 6.8-inch AMOLED display (with an unknown resolution), a 5,000mAh battery, 20W “fast charging,” and a 50MP primary camera that’s paired with a 2MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro lens. And that’s not to mention that the T1 is almost certainly manufactured overseas, despite the claim that it’s made in the US.

Trump’s T1 Phone is set to release in August for $499 (with a down payment of $100), and if even a small part of you is thinking about buying it, let me stop you right there. Rather than Trump’s new phone, here are five other Android phones you should buy instead.

Perhaps the best alternative to the Trump phone is the Google Pixel 9a. It has the same $499 price tag yet is objectively better than the T1 Phone in almost every conceivable way.

Specs-wise, there’s no competition here. It’s hard to gauge how performant the T1 is without knowing its chipset, but the Tensor G4 chip in the Pixel 9a is almost certainly better than Trump’s handset. There’s also a larger 5,100 mAh battery, 23W wired and 7.5W wireless charging, and a 48MP primary camera + 13MP ultrawide camera combo that’s bound to put the T1’s camera setup to shame.

The software experience is also a lot better on the Pixel 9a. The T1 Phone ships with Android 15 and has no official update policy for the number of Android OS upgrades or security patches it’ll receive in the future. The Pixel 9a, meanwhile, is already running Android 16 and will keep getting updates through 2032. Plus, if you don’t like the idea of having your phone tied so closely to Google, you can always install Graphene OS on the Pixel 9a, preventing Google from gathering so much of your personal data.

There have been some recent concerns about Google Pixel phones and battery swelling issues, but if after-sales support is a concern for you, Google handily wins here. Google has a proven track record for taking care of any issues as they pop up, and you can always extend the default one-year warranty with Google’s Preferred Care insurance plan. Comparatively, we have no idea how Trump Mobile will handle this sort of thing.

The Google Pixel 9a is one of our favorite Android phones of the year, and if you have a budget of $500, it really is the best phone you can buy at this price.

If you have a little bit more to spend and aren’t thrilled with the Pixel 9a for whatever reason, another great option to consider is the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE. The S24 FE normally retails for $650, but you can currently purchase it for just $525, which is an incredible price for everything it offers.

Where Trump’s T1 Phone has a display with a mystery resolution, which could be amazing or total garbage, we know the Galaxy S24 FE has an outstanding display. The 6.7-inch size is larger than the Pixel 9a and similar to the T1 Phone. With an AMOLED panel, 1080 x 2340 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and 1,900 nits of brightness, the S24 FE’s screen is one of the best in its class. It also has excellent performance, good battery life, and a strong camera setup — consisting of a 50MP primary camera, 8MP telephoto camera, and 12MP ultrawide camera. The Pixel 9a is a more reliable overall camera phone, but the Galaxy S24 FE is still much more capable than what you’ll get with Trump’s smartphone.

Like Google, Samsung also delivers on the software front. The Galaxy S24 FE currently runs Android 15 and will continue to receive Android updates and important security patches through 2031. There are also ample AI features as part of Samsung’s Galaxy AI suite.

The Pixel 9a is the better choice if camera quality is your number one concern (and if you prefer a smaller phone), but if you want a big display, snappy performance, and lots of AI features, the Galaxy S24 FE is an easy recommendation — and well worth an extra $25 over the T1 Phone.

Google and Samsung may be the two most prominent names in the Android world, but Motorola has a big presence, too. Not all of its phones are winners, but the recently released Moto G Stylus (2025) is pretty great — and it just happens to walk all over the T1 Phone.

The Moto G Stylus comes in quite a bit cheaper than the T1 Phone at just $400, yet it matches or bests almost all of the T1’s specs. The 6.7-inch AMOLED panel looks great, the 5,000mAh battery offers reliable endurance, and the 68W wired charge speeds are ridiculously fast. The 50MP primary and 13MP ultrawide cameras are also surprisingly good.

Beyond the spec sheet, the hardware is strong, too. The Gibraltar Sea faux leather back is a stunningly saturated blue that, if you ask me, runs laps around the cheap-looking gold finish on the T1 Phone. Motorola’s phone is also more durable, featuring an IP68 dust/water resistance rating and a MIL-STD 810H military-grade durability rating. Plus, like the name suggests, the Moto G Stylus (2025) also comes with a bundled stylus that’s stored inside the phone when you aren’t using it.

Motorola’s update policy is perhaps the biggest weakness here, but if you don’t mind receiving just two Android updates and three years of security patches (which is probably longer than what the T1 will get), the Moto G Stylus (2025) is a better and cheaper phone than the T1. It’s an easy pick.

I already touched on it earlier, but it’s worth reiterating a big question around Trump’s T1 Phone: What happens when something goes wrong? What happens if you break your screen? If there’s a battery issue? There’s zero information about this on the Trump Mobile website, which isn’t a particularly good sign. If these questions are top of mind for you when buying a phone, you should check out the HMD Fusion.

Unlike most Android phones available today (including the T1 Phone), the HMD Fusion is incredibly user-repairable. You can easily replace the phone’s screen, battery, charging port, speaker, and back cover. Spare parts are readily sold by iFixit, and they’re affordable, too (a new battery is just $33 and a new screen costs $57).

Another cool feature of the HMD Fusion is that it can be customized with modular accessories, including a gaming controller and a high-tech flash ring. The specs aren’t the best out there, but considering how cheap the Fusion is, they’re solid enough. You get a 6.56-inch LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate, a 108MP rear camera, a 5,000mAh battery, 33W wired charging, and expandable storage via a microSD card.

For a phone that costs just $300, that’s a pretty solid package. The Galaxy S24 FE and Pixel 9a are much better phones for fast performance, great cameras, and long-term software updates (the Fusion will only get updated through Android 16), but if you want to keep things more affordable and want a phone you can easily fix yourself, the HMD Fusion is one of the best options out there.

The last alternative to the Trump T1 Phone I’d recommend looking at is the Punkt MC02. Unlike the other phones mentioned here, the Punkt MC02 doesn’t run a traditional version of Android. Instead, it’s powered by Apostrophy OS — a version of Graphene OS with its own suite of security-focused applications and services. That includes a built-in VPN, in-depth privacy controls, and limiting applications from accessing any personal data they would otherwise have access to on a “normal” Android phone.

The Punkt MC02 doesn’t ship with the Google Play Store or any Google apps pre-installed, but if you’d like, you can still easily access all of those things — it just requires a couple of extra steps in the name of enhanced security. As far as specs go, the Punkt MC02 isn’t all that exciting. But that’s also not the point. If you want one of the most privacy-centric phones on the market today, you’ll be hard-pressed to find something better than what Punkt is offering.

The Punkt MC02 costs $599, making it a bit more expensive than the T1 Phone. But it’s important to remember that Punkt offers a load of privacy features you simply won’t get with Trump’s phone, and if that’s important to you, Punkt is far and away the better option.

I could keep going on and on about other Android phones I think you should buy instead of Trump’s smartphone. The OnePlus 13R is just $100 more and one of my favorite Android phones of the entire year. The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G isn’t a perfect device, but with a nicer design, better display, and lower price than the T1, it’s a much better choice overall. Hell, even if you’re a diehard Android user, I’d recommend buying the iPhone 16e over the T1 Phone any day of the week.

I say that not because of the politics surrounding the T1 Phone, but rather as someone who has been writing about and covering Android phones for over a decade. Beyond the mediocre specs and uncompetitive price, the vibes of the T1 Phone are just off. The official render looks like a rushed Photoshop job (and a bad one at that), critical information like the display resolution and chipset are nowhere to be found, and the copy on the Trump Mobile website is laughable (in one section, the 5,000mAh battery is referred to as “5000mAh long life camera”).

Remove the Trump affiliation from the T1 Phone, and my above list of recommended alternatives remains the same. This is not an Android phone you should spend your money on. If you’re in the market for something new, just get one of the other phones mentioned here. You’ll be glad you did.