‘Freedom Phone’ for Trump supporters also manufactured by Chinese supplier

(Credit: Freedom Phone)

A new smartphone is making waves among Trump supporters. This week, a self-proclaimed 22-year-old Bitcoin millionaire introduced the Freedom Phone, a $ 499 device believed to be completely free from censorship and “Big Tech” influence.

But it turns out that the same smartphone is actually from China, and probably just a cheap knockoff.

The Freedom Phone comes from Erik Finman, who unveiled the device earlier this week. He claims the product has everything Trump supporters could dream of, including an “uncensored” app store, preinstalled apps geared towards conservatives including Talk and Rumble, and even its own anti-Tory operating system. monitoring called FreedomOS.

“There is no app tracking, no keyboard tracking and no location tracking because I believe in your safety,” Finman said in a video touting the device.

Tweeter

The product quickly gained support from pro-Trump supporters, including political commentator Candace Owens. however, The daily beast noticed that the Freedom Phone looks surprisingly like a budget smartphone from a Chinese supplier called Umidigi.

The device is called Umidigi A9 pro, and you can buy it from the Chinese e-commerce site AliExpress starting at $ 119.

Freedom Phone (left) compared to the Umidigi A9 pro

Finman said later The daily beast that the Freedom Phone did indeed come from Umidigi, a company based in Shenzhen, China. This is not very nice, given the “America First” position among Pro-Trump supporters.

Hiring a Chinese supplier to build the device is also ironic, since the Freedom Phone promises to be free from Big Tech influence and censorship. China has gained a notorious reputation for suppressing online dissent and sponsoring hackers to spy on the US government and the private sector. Security fears have prompted the United States to ban some Chinese companies, such as Huawei and ZTE, from the US supply chain.

In response, Finman said he had no choice but to get the phone in China. “We designed this between my design lab and our partner in Hong Kong to make a custom phone,” he said in a Tweeter Friday. “You can’t build a phone in the United States from top to bottom, unfortunately. Motorola tried to invest billions of dollars in it, for the moment it is impossible.

We designed it between my design lab and our partner in Hong Kong to create a custom phone.

Can’t build a phone in the US from top to bottom unfortunately. Motorola tried to invest billions of dollars in it, for the moment it is impossible: https://t.co/nr1yoeQCrz

– ERIK FINMAN (@erikfinman) July 16, 2021

Finman is correct that many consumer electronics, including Apple’s iPhone, are made in China. However, it also makes great promises with the Freedom Phone that do not keep, especially in terms of security.

So far, Finman has yet to release technical specifications for the product. But an uncensored app store opens the door for hackers and shady developers to spread malware and data collection programs to users. We also doubt that Freedom Phone will have its own operating system if it can run apps like Talk and Rumble, in addition to Signal, Telegram, and Brave. It is more likely that the phone is just using a customized version of Android from Google.

But if the phone is really using a custom operating system, hopefully it’s secure. Apple and Google both spend considerable resources patching iOS and Android vulnerabilities on a regular basis. Finman will have to do the same to prevent hackers from exploiting his own software.

The other issue is quality: Do diehard Trump supporters really want an untested phone from a little-known Chinese manufacturer? At the very least, Finman sees an opportunity to make money.