Trump Mobile says shutdown caused delay in first phone release
WASHINGTON, DC: Trump Mobile, the US President Donald Trump Organization–backed wireless company, has delayed the release of its highly anticipated gold-colored T1 smartphone once again. The company says the US government shutdown is the reason for the delay.
The setback adds to months of launch delays and highlights the growing challenges of turning a high-profile political brand into a consumer tech product.
Trump Mobile representative explains how the shutdown disrupted shipments
A customer service representatives for Trump Mobile told Fortune that the government shutdown disrupted shipments of the $499 phone. They said the company will not ship the device this month and now expects delivery in 'mid to late January'.
Trump Mobile has not shared a new official release date. The representative explained that the shutdown forced the company to pause work involving the FCC, but confirmed that the $499 price remains the same.
"The T1 has been delayed due to the government shutdown. They had to pause everything on the FCC side of things."
Trump Mobile launched in June as a licensing business that uses the Trump name to sell wireless service and a branded Android phone called the T1.
The company markets the T1 as a gold-colored smartphone priced at $499, available for preorder with a $100 deposit.
The phone runs on 'The 47 Plan,' which costs $47.45 per month and includes 5G service with unlimited talk, text, and data, a price that references Donald Trump’s terms as the 45th and 47th US president.
Trump Mobile’s debut phone keeps missing its expected release dates
Trump Mobile launched its smartphone project by promising a US-built phone and pitching it as both a business move and a statement on American manufacturing.
Early ads claimed the gold-colored T1 phone was 'built in the United States,' echoing Donald Trump’s criticism of phones made in China.
Experts quickly raised doubts, saying it is unlikely to produce a fully US-made smartphone at that price. Since then, the launch has faced repeated delays, with release dates slipping from August to October and then to the end of the year.
As delays continued, Trump Mobile quietly removed release dates and 'Made in USA' claims from its website.
The company has since started selling refurbished phones from Apple and Samsung instead, while the T1 phone remains unavailable. Trump Mobile runs as a virtual network using existing carriers and outside partners, not its own infrastructure.
While the company now blames the latest delay on the government shutdown, it has not clearly explained how the shutdown affected production. Meanwhile, customers who paid deposits say they have received few updates and still don’t know when, or if, the phone will ship.
