A gold-coloured smartphone sold as a statement of American patriotism has turned into one of the most embarrassing product launches in recent political history, as Trump Mobile's T1 phone remains undelivered to hundreds of thousands of buyers who collectively handed over tens of millions of dollars in deposits.

Trump Mobile was announced on 16 June 2025 at Trump Tower in New York City by Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign announcement. The T1 was marketed as a gold-coloured Android handset bearing an American flag on its back and bundled with a monthly service plan at $47.45 (£37.50) per month. Within days, the central promise had collapsed.

Max Weinbach, an analyst at research firm Creative Strategies, wrote on X that the T1 phone is likely being made byWingtech, which is owned by Chinese company Luxshare. 'Same device as the T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G, custom body,' Weinbach wrote. 'Wingtech, now owned by Luxshare, makes it in Jiaxing, Wuxi, or Kunming China.' The REVVL 7 Pro 5G retails for approximately $169 (£133), Trump Mobile priced the T1 at nearly three times that.

Todd Weaver, CEO of Purism, one of the only known companies to actually manufacture a cell phone in the United States, told CNN previously that producing what Trump Mobile promised was not feasible on the announced timeline. 'Unless the Trump family secretly built out a secure, onshore or nearshore fabrication operation over years of work without anyone noticing, it's simply not possible to deliver what they're promising,' Weaver said. Counterpoint Research analyst Blake Przesmicki wrote in a June 2025 note that despite the phone's branding, 'it is likely that this device will be initially produced by a Chinese original design manufacturer.'

The REVVL 7 Pro carries additional baggage: T-Mobile issued a recall of the device in August 2024, pulling it from all retail outlets and directing partners to return existing inventory. The carrier cited a need to 'maintain our high-quality standards' without disclosing the specific fault, though employees reported that the phone's calling application was crashing persistently on affected units.

And the answer is... Wingtech REVVL 7 Pro 5G!Same device as the T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G, custom body. Wingtech, now owned by Luxshare, makes it in Jiaxing, Wuxi, or Kunming Chinahttps://t.co/KFS3WtMF5O

By 22 June 2025, just six days after the product's launch, Trump Mobile had scrubbed'Made in the USA' from its website. Internet Archivecapturesconfirm the change. As of 25 June 2025, the company described the phone as 'designed with American values in mind.' Ryan Reith, group vice president for the International Data Corporation's Worldwide Device Tracker, characterised such language as legally vague, stating plainly: 'There are no phones that are really being built in the US from start to finish.'

Despite the changed website language, a Trump Mobile spokesperson told CNN that 'the T1 phones are proudly being made in America,' adding that 'speculation to the contrary is simply inaccurate.' The Trump Organization's press release announcing Trump Mobile still describes the $499 (£394) gold-coloured phone as 'proudly designed and built in the United States.' In the formal launch event, Trump Mobile partner Pat O'Brien declared the company would be 'doing phones that we are going to build in America.' Eric Trump later said in a separate interview that 'eventually all the phones can be built in the United States of America', a materially different commitment.

Product specifications shifted alongside the marketing language. The phone was originally listed with a 6.78-inch display; the website was later amended to show a 6.25-inch screen, and the RAM specification was removed entirely. The product page continues to display a photoshopped rendering rather than a real photograph of the device.

Eric Trump: “Eventually all the Trump phones will be built in the USA.”Translation: They’re not built in America. And there’s no real plan to change that anytime soon.pic.twitter.com/A5xp7NkvPJ

Source: International Business Times UK