The global mobile phone industry is massive and now records over 1.3 billion units in sales per annum. Most smartphones in the world are made in China, thanks to economies of scale. Some are made in Vietnam and a few other places. India is also rising as a major manufacturing hub for cell phones, and brands like Apple, Samsung, OPPO, Motorola, and others, are already moving some production there. Are there any mobile phones made in America today? Are there any American phone manufacturers?
We know that a number of phone brands are of American origin. The most prominent ones are Apple iPhone and Google Pixel. But there are other American phone brands as well, including the following:
- CAT
- BLU
- NUU Mobile
- Librem
All the above brands are American in origin. But are their products made or manufactured in America?
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Which brands have phones that are made in America?
What cell phones are made in America? Apple is an American company, but its iPhone models are not manufactured in the USA. The same holds for Google Pixel phones. Like Apple, Google handles the design, but the manufacturing happens in China. So, neither Apple nor Google have their cell phones made in the USA.
What of CAT, BLU, and NUU Mobile? Like the big two dogs, their phones are not made in America either. BLU does all the designing in their Florida base, but all manufacturing is done in China. CAT phones are made by Bullitt, which has its manufacturing done in China. The same goes for NUU Mobile.
Once upon a time, the list of USA phone manufacturers included tech brands like HP, Compaq, Dell, and Motorola. They used to have their cell phones manufactured in the USA. But that was a different lifetime. All of them, except Motorola, have exited the mobile market. Motorola, once an American company, was acquired by Chinese smartphone company, Lenovo, in 2014, and so is now Chinese.
Today, most Motorola phone models are made in China. The company no longer has any manufacturing facilities in the United States of America. Read more about where Motorola phones are made.
Here are the cell phones that are made in America
Let’s cut to the chase. Are there any cell phones made in the USA? The simple answer to that is this: No; there are no mobile phones of any kind that are made in America any more. Once upon a time, some great smartphones used to be made in the USA. All cell phone manufacturing has shifted offshore – most of it to China. All Apple iPhones, Google Pixel phones, and all the cell phones by other American brands are all manufactured outside the United States of America.
There were no made in America cell phones in existence as of October 2020. But this changed before the year ran out. Read on to find out.
March 2021 update: American tech company, Librem, is now producing a US version of its privacy-focused Linux smartphone, Librem 5 USA, right here in the United States of America. The company states that “all the electronics will be made in our USA facility, and the entire phone will be assembled in the US”. This makes Librem the only American phone manufacturer today. The Librem 5 USA is an American made cell phone – the only smartphone made in USA.
It is marketed as a smartphone that does not track you or mine your personal data for sale or for advertising purposes. In addition, the Librem 5 USA has hardware kill switches to manually shut down connectivity features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular signal, as well as the microphone and camera.
So, if you are hunting for an American made cell phone, for now, there is only one: Librem 5 USA. It is the only one we are aware of at this time. There are no other cell phones made in the USA as at November 2022. We will keep this article updated should any more American made cell phones appear in the market. In the meantime, you may be interested in reading why there are no mainstream smartphones manufactured in the USA.
2023 update: Librem has announced an upgrade to the Librem 5 USA. Called the Liberty Phone, it has more RAM and storage, as well as faster charging.
PS: You can read more about the last American phone brands left standing.
PS: It turns out that the Freedom Phone, promoted under the banner of “Make America Great Again” (MAGA), is manufactured by UMIDIGI, a Chinese company with manufacturing facilities in China. Yes; it is made in China.
December 2022 update: With massive investments going into made-in-America chips, we can expect to see more American-made cell phones show up in the near future.
It’s really sad that these mega rich companies want the united states money while exporting american jobs.
To a Communist ran china that really hated america.
Shame to You and your company’s
Hello!
Calling Mr “Made in America Good Paying Jobs” Joe Biden!
Great job negotiating team sent the meeting in Alaska! I hope that you guarded your plate wellat the table!
China almost stole your lunch! Interesting that Joe Biden is promoting “Good (not excellent) paying jobs” to people who have no skills, no offer to assist them in obtaining the skills and most to old to have enough time for the skills and jobs to be of any benefit. Oh! and about infustructure, start with building factories to begin to manufacture in America what is manufactured in China and demand those who manufacture America build in America!
Why didn’t Trump, the CEO President, require all of his companies to buy and sell only American-made products and pressure other American corporations to do the same? Instead, he talked about “China taking our jobs” as if American CEO’s did not make a conscious decision to close American factories and move production to China.
There’s only so much he, or any other president for that matter, president can do. The presidency is not a dictatorship. Trump brought China to the negotiating table on a few key economic issues, but that was about it.
Nobody in D.C., left right or center, supports tariffs. Any such proposed bill would be dead on arrival. Ultimately, though, that’s what’s needed. Chinese manufacturers possess a fleet of advantages over domestic labor that we cannot, or will not, correct.
For example, their factories don’t have to comply with environmental regulations, health and safety laws, maximum work hours and minimum wages. Or, put more cynically, by building their factories in China, US firms get to undercut their domestic competitors by bypassing all of our laws.
It’s completely unfair not just to domestic labor but all the few patriotic companies that play by the rules. At the end of the day, most consumers of goods simply find what they want on Amazon and sort by price. That’s all that matters to them, they do not give a toss where it comes from or how its made, and there is nothing you can do about it. The only way of correcting this is with tariffs.
Trump was.the best president this country ever had, all these liberals suck china’s dick. SAVE AMERICA TRUMP NATION
It’s about TIME PEOPLE to support this company that is making a phone in the USA—
SUPPORT OUR COUNTRY—ONLY BUY AMERICAN MADE PRODUCTS PERIOD!!-
IF YOU CAN’T FIND WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR — INVENT IT AND MAKE IN THE USA ONLY—YOU ONLY HAVE 80,000,000 AMERICAN PATRIOTS THAT WOULD GLADLY BUY YOUR PRODUCTS!!!
Someone here make it in America.. I’d buy it !!!and I bet the company would shoot off like crazy.! I don’t spend hundreds of dollars on a phone but I’d would think twice for American MADE!!!!
Wholeheartedly agree. However, I also personally KNOW the struggle for some people to buy US made products. I want the Librem 5 phone soooo much I can taste it. But, when it is almost $2000, I can’t afford it. You see, my husband is disabled and his disability requires me to stay home with him and take care of him. All we have is SSI and we receive only $794 a month from that. We have a lot of desire to do US made, but no ability.