We just got a new reason to believe Trump’s phone is real(ish)

Where is Trump’s phone? We will continue to talk about it every week. We’re here, as usual, to ask where Trump’s phone is. This time we have found more evidence that the phone is on its way to release.

Trump Mobile’s T1 Phone has just passed another milestone on its slow path to release. The phone has received the little-known PTCRB certification, the first step in ensuring that it works on major networks and is assigned an IMEI number.

You may not have heard of PTCRB certification – I never heard of it until recently. It doesn’t come often. It is the North American certification system for mobile phones, tablets, and IoT devices, administered by the trade association CTIA. So far, it’s a bit of a bummer – but it’s important for the phone’s launch in the US.

So the fact that Trump’s phone has received certification is another small sign that there may be a real phone at the end of all this. Or, me think it has been confirmed.

What is it it has been confirmed and PTCRB is the SGG-06, a smartphone from Smart Gadgets Global, LLC, supported by 5G, 4G, 3G, and 2G networks. He received his certificates on March 9, more than a month ago.

Regular readers may recognize the name. A month ago I said that a phone with the same number, from the same company, received FCC approval in January. It was registered by the FCC under the trade name “T1,” and the CEO of Smart Gadgets Global is Eric Thomas, one of the executives of Trump Mobile. I spoke in February.

Thomas had mentioned the PTCRB certification when I asked him questions, and explained that the phone was in the process of getting certified by T-Mobile.

“There are 30 different tests that have to be done on a new phone, like putting the phone in a car and driving it around the streets to be tested from tower to tower. All of those things are over,” said Thomas. “Some of the internal testing, called the PTCRB, is what’s going on right now. We’ve gone through that as of today. We’ve been familiar with it, then we’ll debug it, we’ll fix it, and then we’ll test it again.”

Thomas and I spoke on February 6th, where he told me that he wanted to complete the PTCRB test by the end of the month, “then after that it all goes to T-Mobile to sign.”

If the PTCRB’s approval was granted in early March — long after Thomas proposed — then the ball is in T-Mobile’s court. I have asked them repeatedly, but so far the internet has refused to confirm whether the T1 Phone is going through certification. After a few polite replies, T-Mobile’s press office politely asked me to stop emailing them and contact Trump Mobile instead.

In theory, T-Mobile is just the beginning. Thomas previously told me that the company verifies with one network at a time to avoid duplicate testing. Once the T1 is verified, T-Mobile can send the certificate to Verizon and AT&T, instead of retrying each test. I have contacted these two networks to be fair, but have not received a response at the time of publication.

Between the FCC approval and the PTCRB certification, it is starting to look like there may be a T1 Phone that has been developed and is about to be released. Does it look like new phone features? Does it fit the new paper? Will it be expensive, or a cheap piece of Android hardware with a gold finish? Those we have to wait to find out. In the meantime, it’s time to seriously move the Trumpometer back to reality.

Do you have any inside information on Trump Mobile or Trump’s phone? Reach safely from your device to tips@theverge.comor our vision How you can help us page.