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The long-delayed Trump Mobile T1 phone still hasn’t shipped, and a recent change to the company’s terms and conditions has backers wondering if they are going to lose the deposits.
The company now says deposits don’t guarantee a phone will ever be produced or made available for sale, the MoneyWisepersonal finance news site has reported.
An estimated 590,000 buyers paid deposits of up to US$100 ($168) each for the gold-cased, American flag-adorned handset, MoneyWise reported, totalling US$59 million ($99.3m).
The phone was announced by Donald Trump Jnr and Eric Trump, two of United States President Donald Trump’s sons, in June last year, retailing for US$499 ($840).
Originally, phones were promised for August 2025, reported MoneyWise. Then the release date was September, which was pushed to November, then December, then mid-March. Now there is no mention of a release date.
The updated terms, posted April 6, now state that a deposit “does not guarantee that a device will be produced or made available for purchase”, Metro reported.
The phones were advertised at US$499 ($840) in June last year. Photo / Trump Mobile
The new terms also say estimated ship dates are “non-binding estimates only”, adding that deposits are non-transferable and carry no independent cash value.
NBC News, which placed a deposit in August 2025 to track the story, called Trump Mobile’s support line five times over three months and received a series of shifting delivery promises, including one that blamed delays on the federal government shutdown.
Some buyers have started demanding answers publicly.
“Hey, Trump supporter here,” a man said in a TikTok video. “This one goes out to Don Jr. and Eric … where the f**k’s my phone? I ordered three, no, four gold Trump phones in the summer."
Another user asked where the money was.
An X user posted, “600,000 people got the Trump phone. Scratch that. 600,000 people ordered the Trump phone, put $100 deposit down on it, and never got it... So where’s the $60 million, Donnie?”
Journalist Joseph Cox, writing for 404 Media, said his deposit experience was the worst he has had ”buying a consumer electronic product”. Cox said Trump Mobile charged his card the wrong amount and never collected his shipping address.
When the phones were first announced, Donald Trump jnr told podcaster Benny Johnson the phones would be “built in the United States of America”, reported the New Republic.
“We have to bring manufacturing back here,” Trump jnr said.
Now the made-in-America has been scrubbed from the website, instead saying the phones will be designed with “American values in mind”.
