In June, President Donald Trump’s two older sons held an event at Trump Tower where they touted a new made-in-the-USA mobile phone with an American flag on its back, plus a new wireless service called Trump Mobile.
The phone was announced on the 10th anniversary of Trump’s presidential campaign launch and was the Trump brand’s first foray into mobile products and services. According to the initial announcement, the phone was supposed to be released in August.
But three months later, there are no signs that the phone has become a reality.
NBC News placed an order for a T1 phone in August, paying the $100 deposit for the purposes of tracking the $499 phone’s development.
After confirming with the credit card company that the transaction was not fraudulent, NBC News received a confirmation email verifying the order.
But the company provided no proactive updates after the order. NBC News made five separate phone calls to the Trump Mobile customer support line between September and November. At one point in October, the call operator promised a specific ship date: Nov. 13.
That date passed without an update, and when NBC News followed up with the call center, an operator said the delivery would now be in the “beginning of December,” with no specific date.
The operator cited the government shutdown as a reason for the delay, without further explanation.
Trump Mobile launched the T1 phone in tandem with a number of phone service offerings, including a 5G service plan priced at $47.45 per month — a nod to the president’s terms. In addition to unlimited talk, text and data, the plan promised “telehealth services, including virtual medical care.”
But since the original announcement, plans appear to be in flux. Quiet edits to the Trump Mobile website suggest that details around the phone’s design and production may have changed since it was announced.
The Trump Mobile website has scrubbed any mention of a specific release month, but continues to collect $100 down payments on the promise of availability “later this year.”
Neither Trump Mobile nor the Trump Organization responded to NBC News’ multiple requests for comment on when the phone would be released and why it’s delayed.
When the company announced the phone in June, photos on the website promised a phone featuring an iPhone-like cluster of three cameras on its back.
But in August, Trump Mobile’s X account posted, “The wait is almost over!” The post featured a photo of a supposed T1 phone with a completely different design, including more than three rear cameras.
The Verge reported that the phone appeared to be a render of a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. When phone case company Spigen noticed that the photo appeared to be a doctored image of a Samsung in one of its cases, the company suggested it would sue.
NBC News has not been able to identify any lawsuit from Spigen, and the company has not responded to repeated requests for comment.
In late June, the same month the phone was announced, the website removed any mention of “Made in the USA,” as was originally promised.
Instead, the website now says the phone is “brought to life right here in the USA. With American hands behind every device,” and that the phone has “American-proud design.”
The T1 phone has been met with skepticism since its unveiling.
Smartphone industry insiders have suggested it’s nearly impossible to manufacture a “Made in the USA” smartphone on as quick a timeline as Trump Mobile has promised, and without some Chinese involvement.
Todd Weaver, the founder and CEO of Purism, a Carlsbad, California-based company that manufactures the only U.S.-made smartphone on the market, said that when his company started, there was “no skilled labor” in the U.S. capable of manufacturing a phone, and “nobody [had] done it before.”He said that creating a chain of production that would allow for a made-in-the-USA label was time and labor-intensive.
“We actually had to go over to China with our designs, to learn the process, the manufacturing process, to see what are all the steps,” Weaver said.
He said it took him six years to take his Liberty Phone from idea to production, which Purism sells at a $2,000 price point.
And even then, Liberty Phone isn’t entirely American-sourced, even if it is branded as “Made in the USA electronics.”
Most of its materials come from the United States, Canada or Europe. Other parts like the chassis are made in different countries, including China and India, according to the company.
While Trump Mobile customers wait for the T1, the company is offering other phones for sale, including refurbished iPhones (which are primarily produced in China) and devices from Samsung, a Korean company. Trump Mobile says that both devices are “brought to life right here in the USA.”
