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
    16·
    12 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
    33·
    16 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.

    • Steve@communick.newsEnglish
      22·
      17 hours ago

      What’ll be hilarious, is when they file a class action suit to get their money back. That’ll be gloriously delicious

      • Powderhorn@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
        12·
        14 hours ago

        So, $5 per litigant after legal fees, assuming the DOJ doesn’t step in and claim to be the defendant.

        • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
          16·
          12 hours ago

          My impression is that Trump mostly just licenses his name to these ventures for a payment and isn’t affiliated with them otherwise. I don’t think that he likely cares much what happens to the phone buyers or sellers. He’s made his money either way.

          EDIT: Yeah:

          https://www.trump.com/lifestyle/trump-mobile

          Trump Mobile, its products and services are not designed, developed, manufactured, distributed or sold by The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals. T1 Mobile LLC uses the Trump name and trademark pursuant to the terms of a limited license agreement which may be terminated or revoked according to its terms.

          It’s some third-party fly-by-night organization doing the actual deal.

        • slemptastrophe@piefed.socialEnglish
          9·
          14 hours ago

          They might file a suit. They’ll never see that money again though. Not until we have a functioning government again, but by then we’ll have much bigger problems to solve than a bunch of idiots getting their money back.

    • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
      10·
      13 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.