Freedom phone is a new smartphone that is making waves among the supporters of former US President Donald Trump. The phone was introduced this week by Erik Finman, a self-described Bitcoin millionaire.
The smartphone is $499, and it is meant to compete with other smartphones on the market. It is advertised as free from censorship and influence.
However, it was discovered that the smartphone is from China and may be a knock-off.
Freedom Phone Features
The Freedom Phone is claimed to be everything that people "could dream of." It includes an uncensorable app store, and it is equipped with its own anti-surveillance operating system called FreedomOS.
The Freedom Phone also has Parler and Rumble preinstalled, two of the most famous conservative-friendly apps.
Finman claimed that the smartphone does not have any keyboard tracking, app tracking, and location tracking because he believes in the security and privacy of the users.
The smartphone gained support from the supporters of former President Donald Trump. However, The Daily Beast reported that the Freedom Phone looks exactly the same as that of a budget smartphone device from Umidigi, a smartphone manufacturer from China.
The smartphone is called the Umidigi A9 pro. It can be bought on the Chinese e-commerce site AliExpress for $119.
Finman admitted to The Daily Beast that the Freedom Phone was sourced from Umidigi.
Resemblance to Umidigi Phone
The public was quick to point out the irony behind the Freedom Phone since it is supposed to be free of influence and censorship from major smartphone manufacturers.
China has gained a notorious reputation for sponsoring computer hacks and suppressing online posts in order to spy on the US government and US private sectors.
Due to security concerns, the US had banned certain Chinese companies, such as ZTE and Huawei, from selling their products and services in the country.
In response to the backlash, Finman said that he had no choice but to source the phone from China.
He posted on his Twitter account that they designed the phone between his design lab and their partner in Hong Kong to make a custom phone.
Finman added that it was impossible to build a phone in the United States, that even companies like Motorola, who had tried to build a custom phone in the past, had failed.
No Specs and Details
Another thing that the public had noticed is that the Freedom Phone does not have any information regarding its specs, which is a red flag.
Finman is yet to release the technical specs for the product.
According to CNET, an uncensorable app store can open the doors for hackers and other developers to release malware and data-collecting programs to users.
Some people doubt that the Freedom Phone has its own operating system, especially if it can run established apps like Rumble and Parler. It can even download Telegram, Brave, and Signal.
The OS of the Freedom Phone may just be a custom version of Google's Android.
However, if the phone ends up having its own operating system, there is still the risk of it not being secure enough to keep the personal information of its users away from hackers.
Even iOS and Android, the operating systems of Apple and Google that are known for their tight security, are filled with vulnerabilities that need constant updating.
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Written by Sophie Webster
