We’re still talking about the Trump phone – The Verge

I spent a week using the Trump phone — it sucks

2026-07-10T10:46:59-04:00

I used the Trump phone for a week so that you don’t have to.

The Trump phone was never a serious phone. Not when it was announced last June, in dodgy renders and with an incoherent spec sheet. Nor when Trump Mobile admitted - just two weeks later - that it wouldn't be made in the US. Not even when the company revealed the final phone, first to me over a video call in February and then to the world in April through a short commercial with the slick sheen of AI.

It's now on sale for $499, past the days of its tenuous, ever-shifting release dates. A few buyers even have the phone, The Verge among them, though more still seem not to.

It's clear now that the T1 is a real phone, but that doesn't mean it's …

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I finally got my Trump phone

2026-07-03T10:41:11-04:00

Unlike most phones, the T1 still ships with a charger. Trump Mobile seemingly isn’t too worried about e-waste.

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. One year on, our phones have finally arrived.

12 months, 16 days, 21 hours, and 54 minutes after I first heard about Trump Mobile's T1 Phone 8002 (gold version), I'm finally holding one in my own hands.

That's right, The Verge's Trump phones have arrived. And yes, I do mean phones - we have three of them: We ordered two, paid for two, and received three, all of which were sent to the wrong address. You can't beat service like that.

My phone came with a free Trump Mobile SIM card, even though I've not signed up to the company's mobile plan, plus an A4 quick start gui …

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Trump Mobile will take your $499 right now

2026-06-26T04:40:21-04:00

Yours for $499 (plus tax and an indeterminate amount of time for processing and shipping). | Screenshot: Trump Mobile

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We still don't have the phones we preordered yet, but this week the T1 hit open sale, no deposit required.

Trump Mobile's T1 Phone is now available for anyone to buy directly. The phone has previously trickled out to a small number of preorder customers - though The Verge is still waiting for both of its handsets - but now you can claim your own without having to place a $100 deposit.

Android Authority spotted the change to the Trump Mobile website, which now lets you pay $499 directly for the phone, rather than paying $100 first. In true Trump Mobile fashion, they'v …

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T1 Phone PR firm is ‘not assisting Trump Mobile any further’

2026-06-18T13:40:47-04:00

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We don't have the phones we preordered yet, but this week we received unexpected news from Trump Mobile's media relations manager.

If you've been following my reporting on the Trump phone, you'll know that Trump Mobile doesn't exactly keep open lines of communication with the media. That doesn't look to be changing, with the company no longer working with its long-term media relations firm.

Poplar Group has represented Trump Mobile since at least last June, when the company's founding partner Chris Walker gave a statement to USA Today, insisting at the time that "T1 …

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Happy birthday to the Trump phone

2026-06-15T10:15:12-04:00

From the day it was announced, on June 16th, 2025, the Trump phone sounded ridiculous. The T1 Phone 8002 (gold version), as it was officially called, was a combination of contradictory specs, product images that were clearly not photographs of a real phone, and the worrying requirement of a $100 deposit to secure a preorder of a $499 phone with no release date. But none of Trump Mobile's outlandish announcements were as bold as the claim that the phone would be "designed and built in the United States."

The US has next to no phone manufacturing infrastructure, few engineers with the required expertise, and little of the affordable, flexible …

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I held the Trump phone

2026-06-12T12:45:44-04:00

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We've reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone's whereabouts. We don't have the phones we preordered yet, but this week included an unexpected in-person encounter with the T1.

You see a lot of interesting phones when you're among tech journalists.

I'm thinking of two in particular that I held this past week: One was solid gold, with ornate engravings. It was elaborately embellished, heavy - an actual work of art. The other was the Trump phone.

I know. The Trump phone. The one announced almost a year ago that has shipped to almost nobody. But when you asso …

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iFixit Trump phone teardown confirms it’s an HTC dupe

2026-06-11T07:32:29-04:00

This is the Trump phone, but it could just as easily be an HTC. | Image: Trump Mobile

After getting its hands on a Trump phone and tearing it apart, iFixit has confirmed what I first reported back in February: the T1 Phone is an almost exact duplicate of the HTC U24 Pro.

iFixit partnered with NBC to get hold of the network's media sample of the Trump phone, along with a U24 Pro. They ran the phones through a CT scanner, tore them down to parts, and even put them back together into a functional Frankenstein phone with the U24 Pro's board inside the T1 Phone's chassis, confirming along the way that the two phones are functionally identical.

There are minor differences: The flash has been moved slightly, the speaker grille was …

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Why isn’t the Trump phone made in the USA?

2026-06-05T09:54:46-04:00

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We've reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone's whereabouts. This week, I'm investigating where it might have been built - and why it definitely wasn't the US.

Almost a year after its announcement, the Trump phone has "launched." A few journalists and YouTubers have received early samples of the phone, though there's still little evidence that any regular buyers have gotten theirs. If and when anyone else gets it, they'll discover an open secret: Just like Trump's "God Bless the USA" bible, it's not really made in the USA.

When Trump Mobile announced its …

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Trump Mobile’s website still says the T1 Phone is ‘American-made’

2026-05-29T09:11:28-04:00

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We've reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone's whereabouts. As the phone's supposed launch continues, we noticed its website may be violating FTC rules.

When the Trump phone was first announced last June, it was proudly promised to be made in America. Trump Mobile quickly walked back that claim, and now promises only that the T1 is "assembled" in the US. Except… it didn't walk it back everywhere, with one website page still promising that the phone is "American-made," in likely violation of Federal Trade Commission rules.

On the Trump Mobile website's "P …

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The Trump phone is not here

2026-05-22T10:46:20-04:00

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We've reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone's whereabouts. It's now been more than a week since Trump Mobile announced that phones would "start shipping this week."

Last week Trump Mobile announced that the T1 Phone was ready to start shipping by the end of the week. Almost two weeks later, there's no sign that's actually happened - and the company still hasn't shipped either of the two phones ordered by The Verge.

Depending on where you get your news, you might believe the company when it says the phone has now launched: The phone is "here" according t …

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