Nearly 600,000 Trump supporters paid deposits for a gold smartphone that remains undelivered, sparking outrage and calls for investigation into Trump Mobile's practices.

A grift? From Trump? How could we possibly have gotten here?

Nearly 600,000 Trump supporters paid £74 ($100) each towards a gold smartphone that, nearly a year on, does not exist.

The Trump Mobile T1 phone was announced in June 2025 by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump as a patriotic alternative to Apple and Samsung, retailing at £370 ($499) and promising a ‘Made in the USA’ build.

An estimated 590,000 buyers paid a £74 ($100) deposit to secure one, collectively handing the venture roughly £43.7 million ($59 million). As of May 2026, not a single confirmed customer has received the device. Now, a fresh wave of anger is spreading across MAGA forums after buyers received communication making clear that their money is, for all practical purposes, gone.

  • manxu@piefed.socialEnglish
    12·
    14 hours ago

    American population: about 400 million. Cost of the war in Iran: about 20 billion per day. 20 billion divided by 400 million: about 50 dollars a day.

    Every single person in America spent the equivalent of this Trump phone in ten days of this war that has lasted more than six times as long. How the man is still America’s President, I don’t know. But the saga of the $500 cult vaporphone sure explains a lot.

  • aramis87@fedia.io
    24·
    18 hours ago

    a revised terms of service published on 6 April 2026. The updated document states explicitly that paying a deposit ‘does not constitute a completed purchase and does not create a binding legal contract.’ The payment is described as ‘a conditional opportunity to buy the device if Trump Mobile eventually chooses to sell it,’ with the company retaining all control over whether a phone is produced at all.

    screenshot of change in terms, but what I’d love to see is a copy of the email they’ve been getting.

    • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
      7·
      15 hours ago

      Frankly, being taken for $100 on a phone is probably a lot better than putting your life savings into one of Trump’s memecoins or Truth Social, which some people did.