Trump T1 Pre-Order Refunds Loom as $499 Handset Misses Yet Another Deadline

Spending £79 ($100) on a promise is risky—but hearing nothing back is worse. Thousands of customers who pre-ordered the gold T1 smartphone now find themselves stuck in limbo, their initial excitement replaced by growing frustration as deadlines slip and communication dries up.

What was billed in June 2025 as a made-in-America comeback moment has instead become a test of patience and trust, with many buyers now openly wondering if the phone will ever ship at all.

Trump T1 Phone Release Date Delay: Why the Golden Handset Is Missing in Action

The much-awaited T1 phone, a flagship product from President Donald Trump's family business, has yet to hit the market despite a confident launch announcement in June 2025.

Described as having an 'American-Proud Design' by its official website, the gold-coloured £395 ($499) phone has consistently missed a host of previous release dates. Initially, Trump Mobile promised to launch it sometime between August and September 2025.

However, the scheduled release date went by quietly without Trump Mobile issuing any update about the delay. Instead, the company simply updated its official website, stating that the T1 phone will come out later in the year, a vague adjustment that has done little to quell buyer anxiety.

The Trump Organisation has yet to share any definitive update regarding the launch of the device, despite multiple delays and several customers having already paid £79 ($100) to pre-order the phone.

Trump Mobile Pre-Order Refund Woes Mount as 590,000 Buyers Wait in Limbo

The financial scale of this delay is becoming increasingly apparent, raising questions about consumer protection and potential refunds. The company continued to allow customers to pre-book the phone for £79 ($100), even as deadlines slipped.

According to X (formerly Twitter) user @Bricktop_NAFO, as many as 590,000 buyers have already placed their orders for Trump's T1 phone, with none of them receiving their orders as of yet.

This massive backlog of unfulfilled orders suggests a significant cash influx for a product that remains purely theoretical. Analysts have theorized that the delay could be due to the US's restricted supply chain policies, among other logistical issues.

AP News notes that these constraints make it close to impossible for companies to make a viable smartphone in the US while keeping the price under £793 ($1,000).

Notably, Trump Mobile initially asserted that they would proudly design and build the T1 phone in the United States, but later removed this claim from their promotional materials.

Government Shutdown Blamed for Trump T1 Phone Delays and $499 Gold Phone Uncertainty

Confusion is mounting, as the explanations for the delay keep changing. According to a 2025 Financial Times report, Trump Mobile's support team has started pointing fingers at the recent US government shutdown to explain the hold-up.

However, industry insiders reject this explanation. While political standoffs can slow things down, experts believe the real problem isn't bureaucracy—it's the sheer difficulty of building the phone itself.

International Data Corp. analyst Francisco Jeronimo explained the anomaly by saying, 'We have always been quite sceptical about this phone. 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'.

At the time of writing, it remains unclear when the golden T1 phone will be released, leaving nearly 600,000 customers wondering if their patriotic investment will ever yield a return.