Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump launched Trump Mobile, a Trump Organization venture, at Trump Tower on June 16, 2025, promising an “all-American” phone service and a gold Trump-branded smartphone, the T1. The $499 Android handset, with a gold shell bearing an American flag and the Trump Mobile name, a 6.78-inch screen, 50-megapixel cameras and “AI face unlock,” was first due to ship to $100 depositors in August 2025.
Delivery slipped to November, then December; customer service representatives told Fortune it would arrive in “mid to late January.” By spring the website listed no release date. In preorder terms dated April 6, 2026, the company behind Trump Mobile, T1 Mobile LLC, stated that it “does not guarantee that a Device will be produced or made available for purchase,” and that a deposit “provides only a conditional opportunity if Trump Mobile later elects, in its sole discretion, to offer the Device for sale.” The terms say deposits are refunded if the company cancels the product outright.
The marketing also changed. The phone was originally promoted as made in America; the site now says it is “designed with American values in mind.” Tech creator CarterPCs summed up the new terms: “I'm paying $100 for the chance to maybe give you more money in the future, if you decide to make the product that I'm paying for in the first place?” How many people paid deposits is unknown: some reports put preorders near 600,000, a figure The Verge disputed, and the company has not said.
Update (October 2, 2026): Days after Fortune's report, Trump Mobile CEO Pat O'Brien said preordered phones would begin shipping the week of May 11, and outlets reported deliveries by May 20. The shipped T1 is labeled “assembled in the USA”; teardowns reported by Mashable and CNET found it nearly identical to HTC's 2024 U24 Pro, and CNET reported it was likely manufactured in China. In September, Trump Mobile raised the T1's price from $499 to $749 without explanation, according to CNET.
Correction (October 2, 2026): The entry said Trump Mobile announced the T1 “approximately” in May 2025; it was announced on June 16, 2025. Its date has been changed from April 1 to April 6, 2026, the date on the revised preorder terms. The title said the phone “still doesn't exist”; that was true when Fortune reported on May 11, but the phone began shipping within days, so the title and text have been updated.