If You're Waiting in Line for the Trump Mobile Phone, Expect a Huge Delay
Sorry about your deposit.
Published Jan. 13 2026, 5:18 p.m. ET
Back in June 2025, a press release from Donald Trump Jr. announced a "bold new wireless service for Americans." As the Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, Don Jr. was thrilled about the then-latest business venture. The cell phone service is predictably called Trump Mobile, and promised to deliver a wireless service that is affordable, reflects the values of Americans, and delivers reliable quality they can count on.
Despite the fact that many far-right-leaning individuals traffic in a conspiracy involving 5G towers and COVID-19, the Trump Mobile will offer 5G service and unlimited talk, text, and data. For the low price of $47.45 per month, which is a nod to both of Donald Trump's presidencies, subscribers were promised all sorts of goodies, including a new cell phone.
Unfortunately, they have to wait a little bit longer for that device. What happened to the Trump Mobile phone? Here is the latest update.
If you are waiting for your Trump Mobile phone, keep waiting.
Don Jr. didn't just promise a new wireless service; he threw in a gold smartphone called the T1 Phone, which was supposed to be released in August 2025.
According to the Financial Times, the shipment of the phones was initially scheduled for late 2025. We are now looking at the end of January 2026, per CBS News.
The delay was attributed to the government shutdown from Oct. 1, 2025, to Nov. 12, 2025, though it's unclear how that would affect the phone's release. We assume federal government employees weren't responsible for shipping out the cell phones.
A request for comment by CBS News was ignored by the Trump Organization.
The Trump Mobile phone might not be made in the U.S.A.
The cell phone itself costs $499, but those who purchased one only had to put down $100 as a deposit, reported PBS. It was also touted as being "proudly designed and built in the United States for customers who expect the best." That has since been updated to "proudly American," which suggests manufacturing will occur outside of the United States.
International Data Corp. analyst Francisco Jeronimo told the outlet those in the tech game weren't surprised by the delay.
"We have always been quite skeptical about this phone," said Francisco. "They are probably finding that it is harder to build a phone than they thought it would be. Let's see if this thing comes to life or not."
The real issue is probably not the government shutdown but rather the "supply chain and other logistics required to make a smartphone for less than $1,000."
These are the same complications that make it nearly impossible for companies like Apple to move from China to India. It turns out this is a lot harder than it looks.
Over on the Trump Mobile Instagram account, some customers are not happy. "I paid the deposit for Trump Mobile, which was scheduled for release in September," commented one woman under the last post from August 2025. "It's now almost November. Where is it?"