California Gov. Gavin Newsom has reacted with scorn to news that President Donald Trump’s latest venture, Trump Mobile, has been forced to delay shipments of its gold cell phones by another month.
“You don’t say,” the Democrat wrote in mock surprise on X on New Year’s Eve, responding to a CBS News report about the holdup.
The Trump Organization first announced the T1 Mobile smartphone and cellular service last June, promising it would deliver “top-tier connectivity, unbeatable value and all-American service for our nation’s hardest-working people.”
However, a customer service representative has told CBS that the phones, which were initially slated for release in August, will not now be delivered until late January, a development they blamed on last fall’s record-breaking government shutdown.
The Independent has reached out to Trump Mobile, the Trump Organization, and the White House for further comment.
The T1 device itself reportedly costs $499, and the cell service is offered at $47.45 a month, a reference to Trump serving as the 47th and 45th presidents.
For that, subscribers are offered unlimited talk, text, and data, device protection, 24/7 roadside assistance, telehealth services, and free international calling to over 100 countries, with no contract or credit check required, according to the original sales pitch.
Shortly after the phone was first announced, language describing it as “Made in the USA” was removed from its official website, with the vague claim that the devices are “brought to life” in the United States posted in its place.
“The T1 Phone isn’t just powerful – it’s brought to life right here in the USA,” the revised description now reads. “With American hands behind every device, we bring care, precision, and trusted quality to every detail.”
When the change in wording invited questions about whether the handsets would really be manufactured in the U.S., in accordance with the president’s economic preferences, a spokesperson for the company told CNBC: “T1 phones are proudly being made in America. Speculation to the contrary is simply inaccurate.”
But that did not convince Francisco Jeronimo, Vice President at International Data Corp, who told the same network he believed they were more likely to be designed and built to specification in China.
“There is no way the phone was designed from scratch and there is no way it is going to be assembled in the U.S. or completely manufactured in the U.S.,” he said. “That is completely impossible.”
Other information about the phone has also changed or been removed since its first unveiling, The Verge has reported.
Trump Mobile initially indicated the T1’s screen measured 6.78 inches, but now claims it is 6.25 inches. It also said the phone had 12GB of RAM; however, that claim has now also disappeared.
As the wait for the T1 continues, Trump Mobile has begun offering refurbished Samsung S23s, S24s, and Apple iPhone 15s and 16s for sale on its site, which appear to have no specific Trump branding and are priced considerably higher than customers might pay elsewhere.
The Trump smartphone is clearly ultimately envisioned as a direct competitor to those companies and their products at a time when both Samsung and Apple face issues caused by the steep import tariffs imposed by the president.
The Trump family, long known for its real estate empire, luxury hotels, and golf resorts, has, in recent years, branched out into newer sectors like NFTs, digital media, and cryptocurrency, in addition to selling the president’s own merchandise lines of steaks, sneakers, bibles, guitars, and wristwatches.
The Trump Organization, which is the main holding entity for most of Trump’s many business ventures, said ahead of his inauguration last January that control would again be handed back to his sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, replicating the arrangement in place from his first term.
“No one who has been paying attention could miss that President Trump considers the presidency a vehicle to grow his family’s wealth,” Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Harvard University, said when Trump Mobile was first announced last summer.
“Maybe this example will help more come to see this undeniable truth.”
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