Oops.
A year after followers of President Donald Trump put down $100 deposits for a Trump-branded gold phone, not one has shipped, and a recent change in the fine print has some worried they may never arrive.
Last month, the company behind Trump Mobile, T1 Mobile LLC, quietly updated its preorder terms and conditions to clarify that it “does not guarantee that a Device will be produced or made available for purchase.”
“A preorder deposit provides only a conditional opportunity if Trump Mobile later elects, in its sole discretion, to offer the Device for sale,” the most recent terms, dated April 6, read.
Purchasers like tech content creator Carter Ryan, who goes by CarterPCs online, were quick to call out the company’s vague language.
“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?” he said in a post on TikTok.
Again I wonder why people paid $100 in advance in the first place. Who does that? And what for? But of course that goes x 1000 when the vendor is Trump. I suppose if it’s a real Maker of Objects people make a deposit so that they’ll get their Object a few minutes sooner than everyone else, and they’re loony enough to think that’s worth doing. But this is Trump. You don’t give Trump a single thin dime until you have the Object in your hand. Yes, that means you don’t order it, you have to go to a Retail Outlet and buy it over the counter.
The terms change comes as the $500 phone, dubbed the “T1,” has had its release pushed back several times. The phone was first set to ship to depositors in August 2025. The launch was then pushed to November, then December. At the end of last year, customer service representatives for the company told Fortune the phone would arrive in “mid to late January,” and that it was delayed because of the government shutdown at the time.
No no it was because of gremlins in the factory. No, it was the weather in one of the states no more than 500 miles from the factory. No, it was because one of the factory employees had a headache that day.
The phone, which was originally advertised as being made in America, will now be “designed with American values in mind,” the website states.
Oh thanks, that was a great laugh. Cleared out my sinuses. The phone will be spiritually American despite being made by prisoners in Somalia.
While the Trump phone remains unreleased, Trump Mobile is selling refurbished Samsung phones and iPhones that connect to its network and its so-called 47 Plan—a $47.45-per-month service that pays homage to Trump’s distinction as both the 45th and 47th president.
Words fail me.
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