Eric Trump and Lara Trump arrive before President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a New Year’s Eve celebration at the Mar-a-Lago Club on Wednesday, December 31, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida.
Alex Brandon/Associated Press
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Alex Brandon/Associated Press
The gold cell phone that President Donald Trump’s family business promised to launch last year remains a mysterious secret as the tech industry unveils a slew of new gadgets at CES in Las Vegas this week.
When the Trump Organization launched its cell phone service last June, it was supposed to set the stage for a new gold-covered smartphone with a $500 price tag. That’s a bargain compared to Apple’s latest iPhone models, which retail for $800 to $1,200. The newly formed Trump Mobile is targeting an August or September release for its T1 phone.
Additionally, Trump Mobile initially praised the T1 as a device “proudly designed and manufactured in the USA for customers who expect the best.”
However, both the T1’s shipping date and US manufacturing ambitions have slowly begun to change, even as Trump Mobile continues to accept $100 deposits for the device.
Shortly after announcing the device, Trump Mobile shifted from describing it as an American-made phone to calling it a “proudly American-made” device. Trump Mobile’s website currently touts the T1 as an “America’s Proud” design, but offers no further explanation.
Analysts believe this shift stems from the realization that the U.S. lacks the supply chain and other logistics needed to manufacture smartphones that cost less than $1,000. These same hurdles make it hard to believe that the company would simply accept President Trump’s demands to move iPhone manufacturing out of China and India.
In late summer, Trump Mobile also became more vague about T1’s release date, but still indicated it would be available to customers with a $100 deposit by the end of 2025. Trump Mobile’s website continues to list the T1’s release date as “later this year.”
The Trump Organization did not respond to inquiries from The Associated Press about the delay or when the device is expected to ship. The Financial Times recently reported that a Trump Mobile customer representative told them the phones would ship in late January, blaming last year’s 43-day federal government shutdown for the delay.
Whatever the reason, T1’s continued disappearance from the smartphone market came as no surprise to International Data Corp. analyst Francisco Geronimo.
“We were always pretty skeptical about this phone,” Geronimo said. “They’re probably realizing that making a cell phone is harder than they thought. Let’s see if this can happen.”
While T1 maintains its ownership pattern, Trump Mobile sells its wireless service for $47.45 per month, a price tied to Donald Trump’s title as the 47th and 45th president. For customers looking for a ready-to-use smartphone, Trump Mobile also sells refurbished versions of older iPhones and Samsung Galaxy models, with prices ranging from $370 to $630.
“Maybe they changed their strategy and decided it would be better to sell refurbished phones,” Geronimo said.