Trump Mobile opens T1 phone sales after months of delays

Trump Mobile opened sales of its $499 T1 phone with no deposit required, even as some early buyers are still waiting for units they paid $100 to reserve. The move puts the phone on open sale before the preorder backlog is fully cleared, sharpening scrutiny of the brand’s promises and delivery record.

The mobile venture launched in June 2025 under a Trump Organization trademark licensing arrangement, and its release schedule has already slipped several times. The company first targeted August 2025, then pushed the phone to October and later to May 2026. Pat O’Brien, Trump Mobile’s chief executive, said the first T1 phones were being sent out and that “Phones that were pre-ordered are starting to be delivered to customers this week.”

The preorder language changed in April. Trump Mobile updated its terms to say a $100 deposit does not guarantee that a device will be produced or made available for purchase, a shift that consumer-law experts say leaves buyers with far less protection than a standard sale. Eric Chaffee, a consumer-law expert, described that setup as a “conditional opportunity to buy a phone,” not a completed purchase, underscoring the risk for customers still waiting on delivery.

Trump Mobile is also charging $47.45 a month for service, a price that nods to Donald Trump’s status as the 47th president. Estimates have put the number of $100 deposits at about 590,000, which would amount to roughly $59 million in preorder money, though the company has not disclosed official sales figures. That makes the timing of the open sale especially sensitive: new buyers can now order a phone directly while some early depositors are still in line.

The device itself remains under a cloud of branding questions. O’Brien has said the first T1 units were assembled in the United States, but the company walked back its earlier “made in America” language to a broader claim that the phone was designed with American values or assembled in the United States. Tech reporting has also said the T1’s hardware appears closely based on the HTC U24 Pro, adding more pressure on Trump Mobile to show that the phone can match its marketing as well as its price tag.